Department for Transport

Bus Services: Veterans

Mr Gary Streeter: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if the Government will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing a free bus pass scheme for armed forces veterans across the UK similar to the Veterans Concessionary Travel Scheme operating in London.

Ms Nusrat Ghani: The Veterans’ Oyster Photocard scheme in London is not part of the English National Concessionary Travel Scheme, but is provided by Transport for London (TfL) and funded by the Mayor as a discretionary enhancement. Concessionary travel is devolved in other administrations. There are no plans at present to introduce a statutory national bus travel concession for armed forces veterans across the UK, however, all local authorities in England have the powers to introduce concessions in addition to their statutory obligations, as TfL have done.

Carillion

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will publish the (a) questions and (b) answers in the financial section of the Pre-Qualification Questionnaire completed by Carillion in respect of the contracts for HS2 awarded in July 2017.

Ms Nusrat Ghani: Two of the HS2 Main Works Civils contracts were awarded to the joint venture CEK, comprising of Carillion, Eiffage and Kier. The Pre-Qualification Questionnaire (PQQ) and the responses are commercially sensitive as it remains subject to strict confidentiality clauses for applicants and tenderers on Main Works Civils Contracts, as with any other HS2 procurement.

Railways: North West

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he and his Department have taken to ensure that there is (a) adequate track capacity and (b) adequate train numbers to support the proposed May 2018 rail timetable change implementation in the North West.

Joseph Johnson: As part of the conditions of the franchise agreement it is the responsibility of the train operating company to ensure both adequate track capacity and train numbers, to support their proposed timetable changes.

Railways: Concessions

Lloyd Russell-Moyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when his Department was made aware of the decision to expand the 26-30 railcard trial to 10,000 extra participants.

Joseph Johnson: The 26-30 railcard trial is led by the rail industry and we await the results of the trial with interest.

Railways: Concessions

Dr Rosena Allin-Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the timescale is for rolling out the 26-30 Railcard scheme throughout the UK.

Joseph Johnson: The trial of 10,000 26-30 railcards is an industry-led initiative to gather evidence and to inform discussions between Government and industry about roll-out of the railcard. The usage of these railcards throughout their validity will inform the evaluation of the trial and inform decisions on a wider rollout.

Aviation: Egypt

Royston Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions he has had with his Egyptian counterpart on the resumption of flights to Sharm el-Sheikh.

Jesse Norman: The Secretary of State for Transport met with his Egyptian counterpart in November to discuss aviation security and the high level of engagement between our two nations. Government officials continue to work in partnership in a spirit of cooperation, and are grateful for Egypt's close engagement. UK aviation security experts continue to work closely with their Egyptian counterparts, sharing their expertise in establishing effective security arrangements. However, it is long standing government policy not to comment in detail on security matters. The Government continues to keep the situation under regular review and we hope that we may be in a position to resume direct flights when the circumstances are right.

Railways: Lancashire

Gordon Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions his Department had with (a) Network Rail and (b) the Office of Rail and Road before the decision was taken to postpone the reopening of the railway line between Blackpool North and Preston for three weeks over Easter.

Joseph Johnson: Department officials are in regular contact with Network Rail and the Office of Rail and Road. The need to extend the blockade was taken as a result of severe weather conditions combined with essential engineering equipment being unavailable at a critical time in order to ensure that the planned improvements could be completed in time for the May 2018 timetable.

Railways: Lancashire

Gordon Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions his Department had with (a) Network Rail and (b) Northern Rail before the announcement of the three-week postponement of the reopening of the railway line between Blackpool North and Preston on the economic consequences for Blackpool's tourist industry.

Joseph Johnson: Department officials are in regular contact with Network Rail and Northern. The need to extend the blockade was taken as a result of severe weather conditions combined with essential engineering equipment being unavailable at a critical time in order to ensure that the planned improvements could be completed in time for the May 2018 timetable.

Railways: Lancashire

Gordon Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the consultation conducted by Network Rail with (a) Blackpool Council, (b) other local authorities and (c) Members of Parliament before the decision was taken to postpone the reopening of the railway line from Blackpool North to Preston for three weeks over Easter.

Joseph Johnson: The Secretary of State for Transport did not make an assessment of this matter. The need to extend the blockade was taken as a result of severe weather conditions combined with essential engineering equipment being unavailable at a critical time in order to ensure that the planned improvements could be completed in time for the May 2018 timetable.

Railways: North West

Gordon Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions his Department has had with (a) Northern Rail and (b) Network Rail about the effect on residents and visitors to Blackpool of the decision to introduce weekend blockades on the railway line from Manchester to Preston in summer 2018.

Joseph Johnson: Department officials are in regular contact with Network Rail and Northern. Upgrading the route between Manchester and Preston, via Bolton, is an integral part of the Great North Rail Project. Delivering this upgrade is complex, and the industry is working hard to limit the impact on services while changes are made and improvements delivered. The industry is being asked to do as much as possible to ensure passengers and communities are informed ahead of all disruption, and is working to deliver improved journeys as soon as possible.

Railway Network: Repairs and Maintenance

Gordon Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate he has made of the number of occasions in the past 12 months when Network Rail has extended agreed timetables to close railway lines for engineering works without consulting (a) local authorities and (b) local Members of Parliament.

Joseph Johnson: My Department has not made any estimate of the number of occasions when Network Rail (NR) has extended agreed timetables to close railway lines for engineering works without consulting Local Authorities or Local MPs.

Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

Electricity Generation

Sir Vince Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent steps his Department has taken to ensure a diverse supply of electricity generation in the next decade.

Claire Perry: We are investing in new power generation technologies that are diversifying our electricity generation and reducing carbon emissions while ensuring security of supply. The Capacity Market is bringing forward a mix of new generation with large volumes of capacity from interconnectors, demand-side response and new smart technologies such as battery storage clearing in recent auctions alongside more traditional gas plant. We are also seeing ever increasing levels of renewable generation. In 2016 renewables accounted for 25% of UK power half of our generation being low-carbon, a record high.

Solar Power: Feed-in Tariffs

Vicky Foxcroft: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether his Department has made an assessment of the effect of the removal of feed-in tariffs for solar energy on the viability of the solar energy industry.

Vicky Foxcroft: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether his Department has made an assessment of the effect of removing feed-in tariffs for solar energy on the ability of local authorities to invest in solar energy.

Claire Perry: A consultation on the Feed-in Tariffs scheme will be published in due course. An impact assessment to accompany this is being prepared.

Fuel Poverty

Vicky Foxcroft: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether the Government has plans to support community-based energy projects which advise residents on fuel poverty.

Claire Perry: The Government is providing £1.3m funding for the Big Energy Saving Network programme and Big Energy Saving Week campaign this winter. The Big Energy Saving Network funds third sector organisations and community groups, to support vulnerable consumers so they can switch and save. With around £4m funding from Government the Network has reached over vulnerable 450,000 consumers in the last four years and we aim to reach a further 100,000 this winter. The Industry Initiative element of Governments’ Warm Home Discount scheme provides services funded by energy suppliers. £19.4m was spent in 2016/17 on activities to support consumers, which provided help to reduce and manage energy debts, helping consumers find additional benefits and sources of income to pay for their energy. Recognising the value of local expertise in tackling fuel poverty Government also commissioned Cornwall Council to produce two toolkits. The toolkits share best practice in establishing support to tackle fuel poverty and in making ‘cold home referrals’ with the health sector. The toolkits have recently been published on the Citizens Advice website. In addition, the Energy Company Obligation, which requires the installation of energy efficiency measures in homes, includes an element which obligated suppliers can deliver in partnership with local authorities and other local organisations.

Coal: Reserves

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what the Coal Authority's most recent estimate is of coal reserves in the UK; and if he will make a statement.

Claire Perry: The Coal Authority operates across Great Britain only. The following table shows estimated GB coal reserves as at 14 June 2017:Million tonnes of reserves EnglandScotlandWalesTotalCurrent sites and licences(1)35314936538Prospects2,5161151972,827Total2,8692642333,365Current sites and licences include operational mines, planning granted, in planning process and pre-planning.Totals may not sum due to rounding. The data is provided by the Coal Authority and published in the Digest of UK Energy Statistics (DUKES), table 2C, available at:https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/632495/Chapter_2.pdf

Electricity Interconnectors

David T. C. Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether he has made an assessment of the effect of increased electricity interconnection on welfare.

Claire Perry: Ofgem considers interconnectors’ contribution to welfare as part of their assessment for regulatory approval.The first round of projects that received regulatory approval from Ofgem showed GB consumer welfare benefits of up to £12 billion over their 25 year regulated lifetimes.The second round of projects that received regulatory approval from Ofgem (GridLink, NeuConnect, and NorthConnect) showed GB consumer welfare benefits of over £7 billion over their lifetimes.The full details of Ofgem’s assessments for these projects, and a small number of other projects which have been assessed separately, can be found athttps://www.ofgem.gov.uk/electricity/transmission-networks/electricity-interconnectors.

Coal Fired Power Stations: Timber

Alex Sobel: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment his Department has made of the compatibility of burning wood in coal power stations with the Clean Growth Strategy and the UK's obligations under the Paris Agreement.

Claire Perry: The Department is fully committed to the implementation of both the Paris Agreement and the Clean Growth Strategy.The Clean Growth Strategy highlights the importance of biomass in the UK’s energy mix and economy. All biomass must come from a sustainable source. Those plants using biomass, with a capacity greater than or equal to one megawatt, must also prepare an annual sustainability report, compiled by a third party auditor/verifier, which will provide assurance that biomass is from sustainable sources.The Department has not made a specific assessment of the compatibility of burning wood in coal power stations with the Clean Growth Strategy and the UK's obligations under the Paris Agreement.

Mineworkers' Pension Scheme

Grahame Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what representations he has received from the Trustees of the Mineworkers' Pension Scheme on surplus sharing arrangements in the last 12 months.

Claire Perry: BEIS officials regularly meet the Trustees to discuss the operation of the scheme, including surplus sharing arrangements.

Energy: Housing

Grahame Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment has he made of the benefits of domestic powerwalls as a means of (a) storing energy created by renewables and (b) providing the grid energy to manage peaks in demand.

Claire Perry: The Government and Ofgem published Upgrading our Energy System: a Smart Systems and Flexibility Plan in July 2017, which outlines a series of actions to support the transition to a smart energy system. It presented an assessment of changes in our energy system, and considered a range of benefits that energy storage systems – including home batteries or ‘powerwalls’ – can deliver. These benefits include maximising the usable output from renewable generation and ‘load shifting’ to manage peaks in demand. Research by Imperial College and the Carbon Trust estimates that deploying smart, flexible technologies, such as energy storage, can save up to £40 billion across the GB electricity system to 2050.

Wind Power: Seas and Oceans

Jamie Stone: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of extending the Renewables Obligation support to floating offshore wind projects after October 2018.

Claire Perry: The Renewables Obligation (RO) scheme closed to most new projects on 31 March 2017. Floating and demonstration offshore wind projects in Scotland have a grace period until 30 September 2018 to accredit under the scheme. Developers have known about this grace period since it was announced by the Scottish Government in 2013. The expiry dates are set out in legislation and we do not intend to extend them. The RO is being replaced by the competitive 'Contracts for Difference' (CFD) support scheme. Innovative offshore wind projects are eligible to compete in the next CFD auction, planned for spring 2019. The scheme incentivises developers and the supply chain to innovate and continuously bear down on costs. This will allow the UK to produce more renewable energy at a significantly lower cost for consumers.

Business: Training

Daniel Zeichner: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what information his Department holds on whether companies are increasing the training opportunities available for their employees.

Andrew Griffiths: Data published in the UKCES Employer Skills Survey 2015 suggests that while total expenditure on training has increased between 2011 and 2015 the amount per employee has remained the same. Total training expenditure and spend per person and per trainee 2011 - 2015 Total (£bn)Spend per trainee (£)Spend per employee (£)201143.82,9741,620201343.02,5601,600201545.42,6101,640Employee Skills Survey 2015 (UKCES) Table A.5.13

Business: Training

Daniel Zeichner: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether his Department has made an assessment of the proportion of expenditure spent by businesses on training.

Andrew Griffiths: There are no known published estimates of the proportion of business expenditure spent by business on training however data published in the UKCES Employer Skills Survey 2015 provides details of the average numbers of training days and training expenditure per employee in the years 2011, 2013 and 2015.

Multinational Companies

David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what information his Department holds on the number of foreign companies that have moved their headquarters to the UK since 23 June 2016.

Andrew Griffiths: The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy does not collate information on foreign companies that have moved their headquarters to the UK.

Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy: Cleaning Services

Catherine West: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what information he holds on the rate of remuneration for cleaners in his Department.

Richard Harrington: Cleaning services for core BEIS are contracted to a commercial contractor. The average rate of remuneration per hour is: Supervisor£8.69Cleaning Operative£8.19

Energy: Meters

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the effect of the use of smart meters on (a) domestic household energy bills and (b) the level of domestic energy switching; and if he will make a statement.

Claire Perry: Holding answer received on 20 March 2018



Smart Meters are forecast to reduce household bills by £300m by 2020. Smart Energy GB have also found that 86% of people with a smart meter have already made energy saving changes to their behaviour, while British Gas have reported that their dual fuel smart meter customers are reducing their energy consumption by almost 4% on average. Smart meters offer real-time information on energy usage in pounds and pence, enabling consumers to better understand their bills and how they use energy. Ofgem’s Consumer Engagement Survey for 2017 showed that consumers who say they have a smart meter are more likely to have switched supplier in the past 12 months (23% versus 17% who don’t say they have a smart meter). The survey is available here: https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/publications-and-updates/consumer-engagement-survey-2017

Energy Companies Obligation

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the viability of the future of the Energy Companies Obligation scheme; and if he will make a statement.

Claire Perry: Holding answer received on 20 March 2018



The Department will shortly consult on the Energy Companies Obligation (ECO) scheme that will run until March 2022. We propose focusing the scheme on low income and vulnerable households to reduce fuel poverty and support more innovation and as the Clean Growth Strategy published last October stated we will continue to enact support for home energy efficiency measures to 2028 at least at the current level of ECO funding.

Energy: Prices

Liz Saville Roberts: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will meet the Competition and Markets Authority, Financial Conduct Authority and Ofcom to discuss the applicability of the energy price cap to other service markets.

Claire Perry: BEIS Ministers and officials meet stakeholders to discuss a range of issues. We will issue a Consumer Green paper in due course that will tackle areas where markets are not working for consumers. The Competition and Markets Authority estimated that domestic customers of the Big Six energy suppliers paid on average £1.4bn a year more than they would have done in a truly competitive market over the period of 2012 to 2015. For this reason, the Government has brought forward legislation to place a new duty on Ofgem to implement a cap on domestic standard variable and default tariffs until the conditions for effective competition are in place or until the end of 2023 at the latest.

Electric Vehicles: Charging Points

Andrew Percy: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps the Government is taking to ensure the adequacy of motorway electric vehicle infrastructure.

Richard Harrington: Across the UK, almost all Motorway Service Areas already have at least one rapid chargepoint, and some have several. The Automated and Electric Vehicles Bill currently going through Parliament contains new regulatory powers to require the installation of chargepoints at motorway service areas and large fuel retailers if there are insufficient levels of infrastructure at these locations to support growing numbers of electric vehicles. Highways England has committed £15m to ensure there are chargepoints (rapid where possible) every 20 miles on 95% of the Strategic Road Network by 2020.

Foreign and Commonwealth Office

Asa Hutchinson

Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 26 February 2018 to Question 129007, if he will meet with the family of Asa Hutchinson.

Alistair Burt: I have offered to meet with the family of Asa Hutchinson as Minister responsible for relations with the Middle East and North Africa and did so on 21 March 2018.

UN Non-proliferation of Nuclear Weapons Treaty Review Conference

Alan Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether the UK was represented at the Informal Consultative Meeting of the Fissile Material Cut-Off Treaty High-level Expert Preparatory Group on 15 and 16 February 2018; and what discussions were held at that meeting.

Sir Alan Duncan: ​The UK was represented by our Ambassador to the Conference on Disarmament at the Informal Consultative Meeting of the Fissile Material Cut-Off Treaty (FMCT) High-level Expert Preparatory Group on 15 and 16 February 2018. This is one among a number of steps the UK has taken to facilitate the early start of negotiations, without preconditions, on a FMCT in the Conference on Disarmament. The consultative meeting ensured that all UN General Assembly member states and civil society had the opportunity to input their views on elements of a future FMCT.

Romania: Politics and Government

Robert Neill: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the level of political interference in the (a) judiciary and (b) judicial system in Romania.

Sir Alan Duncan: Our Embassy in Bucharest monitors developments in Romania’s judiciary and judicial system, including by meeting regularly with Romanian Ministers, officials, members of the judicial and law enforcement institutions and civil society representatives. Foreign and Commonwealth Office staff use this information to update and provide advice to Ministers on this issue on an ongoing basis.

Sierra Leone: Elections

Liz McInnes: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of the extent to which the first round of elections held in Sierra Leone on 7 March 2018 were conducted in a free, fair and transparent manner.

Harriett Baldwin: ​The UK closely followed preparations for the first round of elections held in Sierra Leone on 7 March 2018 and called for all parties to deliver free, fair, inclusive and peaceful elections. We fully supported the EU Election Observation Mission, which deployed 28 long term observers and a further 40 short term observers. We share the conclusions drawn by international and domestic observation missions that the result reflects a robust and credible process.

Israel: Palestinians

Rosie Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with his counterpart in the Israeli Government on the security of Israeli cities within range of rocket attacks from Gaza.

Alistair Burt: The Government regularly discusses the security situation with Israeli officials at all levels. Our commitment to Israel's security is unwavering. Israel has the right to ensure its own security, and its citizens have the right to live without fear of attack. Rocket attacks indiscriminately threaten the daily lives of Israelis and make achieving peace more difficult. The UK continues to support a negotiated agreement between the Israelis and the Palestinians which will protect Israeli citizens and ensure their safety. We call on all parties to refrain from violence and commit to a negotiated solution to end the conflict.

Syria: Islamic State

Dan Carden: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of the extent to which ISIL is present in Afrin and other parts of northern Syria.

Alistair Burt: ​Daesh retains a presence in Syria, holding pockets of territory and as an insurgency. This includes pockets of Daesh activity in the south east of Syria, in the desert regions near the Euphrates river valley, and in the Yarmouk camp in the Damascus suburbs. The UK does not believe there to be a significant presence of Daesh fighters in Afrin or in other parts of northern Syria. We are aware of reports of dispersal of Daesh fighters through areas of northern Syria, but these are likely to be in small numbers and transitory in nature. As a leading member of the Global Coalition, the UK will continue to be at the forefront of efforts to ensure that Syria and Iraq are cleared of remaining Daesh pockets.

Syria: Military Intervention

Dan Carden: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent representations he or his Department has made to Turkey's President Erdogan or his Government's representatives on military action in northern Syria.

Sir Alan Duncan: ​We are closely following developments in Afrin in north-western Syria, and the Foreign Secretary, the Minister for the Middle East and I are in regular contact with our Turkish counterparts. We have called for de-escalation and the protection of civilians. While recognising Turkey's legitimate interest in the security of its borders, it remains in our shared interest to focus on achieving a political settlement that ends the war and suffering, provides stability for all Syrians and the wider region, and secures the enduring defeat of Daesh.

Hong Kong: Politics and Government

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent representations he has made to the Government of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and the Government of the Republic of China on maintaining the one country, two systems approach in Hong Kong.

Mark Field: ​We regularly discuss the importance of respect for 'One Country, Two Systems' and Hong Kong's high degree of autonomy with representatives of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and the Chinese Government. The Prime Minister discussed this issue with President Xi and Premier Li during her visit to China from 31 January to 2 February 2018.The former First Secretary of State and Minister for the Cabinet Office, the Rt Hon. Damian Green MP, raised the issue with the Chief Executive of Hong Kong, Carrie Lam, during her visit to the UK from 20-22 September 2017.It is essential for continued confidence in 'One Country, Two Systems', both in Hong Kong and internationally, that Hong Kong continues to enjoy, and is seen to enjoy, the high degree of autonomy and the rights and freedoms enshrined in the Basic Law and guaranteed in international law by the Joint Declaration.

Hong Kong: Rule of Law

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether he has made an assessment of the potential effect of the erosion of the rule of law in Hong Kong on UK businesses.

Mark Field: ​The rule of law and independence of the judiciary is the foundation on which Hong Kong's success and prosperity is built. Despite challenges, Hong Kong's rule of law remains robust and the judiciary remains in high esteem. Confidence in rule of law is essential for 'One Country, Two Systems' and for Hong Kong's reputation as a global centre for business.

Department for Exiting the European Union

Department for Exiting the European Union: Expenditure

Neil Coyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, how much his Department has spent on (a) Ministerial salaries, (b) staff salaries, (c) travel and transport costs,  (d) accommodation, (e) staff expenses, (f) hospitality, (g) publicity and information and (h) administrative costs since its creation.

Mr Steve Baker: The information requested is published in the Department's Annual Report and Accounts which is made publicly available on GOV.UK.

Department of Health and Social Care

Drugs

Daniel Zeichner: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many medicines have been rejected by the National Institute of Health and Care Excellence’s Highly Specialised Technology programme because they did not meet the criterion on the number of patients expected to benefit from the medicine; and what plans he has to increase the figure in that criterion of 500 people affected to reflect population growth.

Steve Brine: Since the start of the Highly Specialised Technology Programme (HST) in 2013, there have been three proposed technologies which did not meet the following criteria:- The target patient group for the technology in its licensed indication is so small that treatment will usually be concentrated in very few centres in the National Health Service. For a technology to be evaluated under the HST programme it is required to meet all seven of the HST topic selection criteria. The population of 500 patients in England is not a number applied in the criteria. Therefore in this context, the population affected by the condition requires expert centres with concentrated expertise and infrastructure to support the condition in question. A strict number is not applied. If a technology does not meet the criteria for the HST, it is considered for the Technology Appraisals (TA) programme. If the topic selection criteria for a technology appraisal are met, it is then considered through that programme. All three technologies referred to above were referred to the TA programme.

Mental Health Services: Children

Dr Dan Poulter: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many out-of-area placements there have been for children with mental health issues (a) in England and (b) by region in each year since 2007.

Dr Dan Poulter: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many out-of-area placements there have been for patients with eating disorders (a) in England and (b) by region in each year since 2007.

Dr Dan Poulter: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many out-of-area placements there have been for patients with (a) peri-natal psychosis and (b) peri-natal depression (a) in England and (b) by region in each year since 2007.

Jackie Doyle-Price: Information is not available in the format requested. On 31 March 2017, NHS England announced the next steps to ensure children and young people do not have to travel far from home for mental health care. As well as funding between 150 and 180 new beds, we are increasing the availability of services in the community to ensure the right beds are in the right place. This includes a programme of work to improve timely treatments in the community for those needing urgent or emergency assessment as well as the development of, and recruitment for, community eating disorder services. Source: Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services Tier 4 Report, NHS England, 2014. https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/camhs-tier-4-rep.pdf

Food: Labelling

Andrew Selous: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent discussions he has had with food manufacturers on calorie labelling per portion on pre-packaged foods.

Andrew Selous: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions he has had with food manufacturers on increasing the uptake of front-of-pack traffic light labelling on pre-packaged foods.

Stuart C. McDonald: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to encourage the food industry to adopt the front-of-pack traffic light food labelling system.

Stuart C. McDonald: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to encourage food retailers to adopt calorie labelling on  menus or at the point of purchase.

Stuart C. McDonald: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to improve food labelling for people with diabetes.

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that carbohydrates are (a) clearly and (b) consistently displayed on pre-packaged food.

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions he has had with retailers on providing information on the carbohydrate content of food sold in restaurants, cafes and takeaways.

Paul Girvan: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of introducing mandatory recommended dietary allowance guidelines on (a) fast food packaging and (b) in fast food outlets.

Steve Brine: My Rt. hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, has not had any recent discussions with the food and drinks industry on calorie labelling, including carbohydrate content, on pre-packaged foods or food sold in restaurants, cafes, fast food outlets and takeaways. The mandatory nutrient declaration for pre-packaged food must include values for carbohydrate and calories. We welcome the actions taken by responsible producers and retailers who have adopted the front of pack and out of home nutrition labelling schemes. Businesses that have adopted the front of pack nutrition labelling scheme account for approximately two thirds of the market for pre-packed foods and drinks, and around a quarter of the food consumed outside the home currently has calories labelled at the point of choice, for example on menus and menu boards. But the challenge to industry to make further progress remains. The United Kingdom’s decision to leave the European Union will give us greater flexibility to determine what information should be presented on packaged food, and how it should be displayed. We want to build on the success of our current labelling scheme, and review additional opportunities to go further and ensure we are using the most effective ways to communicate information. This might include clearer visual labelling, such as teaspoons of sugar, that help consumers understand more about the sugar content in packaged food and drink. There has been no central assessment of the merits of introducing mandatory recommended dietary allowance guidelines on fast food packaging or in fast food outlets.

Lyme Disease

Sir Hugo Swire: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to fund research into improving the diagnostics for Lyme disease.

Jackie Doyle-Price: The diagnostic tests used in the United Kingdom meet international best practice, and accord with the forthcoming National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidance on best practice for the diagnosis of Lyme disease. The Department funds health and care research through the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) and is funding research into Lyme disease diagnostics through the NIHR Health Protection Research Units.

Prescription Drugs

Cat Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 27 February 2018 to Question 128033, on prescription drugs, when his Department first became aware of the NHS Business Services Authority data showing the number of unique patients prescribed (a) benzodiazepines and (b) z drugs.

Steve Brine: The Department requested the information from NHS Business Services Authority when Question 128033 was tabled.

Clinical Commissioning Groups

Rosie Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many CCG guidelines have been updated, how much funding has been saved and how much he expects to save in 2018-19 following the consultation on items which should not routinely be prescribed in primary care.

Rosie Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to monitor the effect of new guidance issued by NHS England relating to items that should not routinely be prescribed in primary care on trends in the levels of prescriptions in primary care.

Steve Brine: NHS England held a three month consultation between July and October 2017 on draft guidance for clinical commissioning groups’ (CCGs’) proposed restrictions on the routine prescribing of 18 products, totalling £141 million in National Health Service primary care spend. Final statutory guidance ‘Items which should not be routinely prescribed in primary care: Guidance for CCGs’ was published on 30 November 2017. NHS England is responsible for monitoring the effect of its new guidance relating to items that should not routinely be prescribed in primary care. NHS England does not hold information on how many CCG guidelines have been updated, or how much funding has been saved since the guidance was published. The NHS Business Services Authority has a dashboard which monitors, on a monthly basis, prescribing volume and costs of the 18 products identified in the CCG guidance. NHS England plans to utilise this dashboard to monitor implementation and progress.

Psychiatry: Children and Young People

Emma Hardy: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what information she holds on the number of child and adolescent psychiatrists in the NHS in Yorkshire and the Humber.

Jackie Doyle-Price: NHS Digital collects monthly workforce statistics and publishes full time equivalent figures for child and adolescent psychiatrists by grade and Health Education England region between September 2009 and November 2017. The following table shows the number of full time equivalent (FTE) child and adolescent psychiatrists employed in Health Education Yorkshire and the Humber between 2009 and 2017, FTEs. National Health Service Hospital and Community Health Services (HCHS): Child and Adolescent Psychiatrists in Health Education Yorkshire and the Humber, as at 30 September for each specified year and latest data available, (FTE): YearChild and Adolescent Psychiatrists in Health Education Yorkshire and the Humber (FTE)September 200954September 201060September 201161September 201260September 201361September 201462September 201561September 201657September 201764November 201759Source: NHS Digital Monthly HCHS workforce statistics Note: FTE figures are given as this is the most accurate measure of service capacity. FTE figures are rounded to the nearest whole number.

Health Professions: Temporary Employment

David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much from the public purse was spent on employing agency (a) doctors and (b) nurses in the NHS in 2017.

Stephen Barclay: Agency expenditure figures are available for the Medical and Dental and Nursing, Midwifery and Health Visiting staff groups for National Health Service secondary care in England. The following table shows total figures in 2016-17 and for the first 10 months of 2017-18. YearAgency expenditure £ thousandsMedical and DentalNursing, Midwifery and Health Visiting2016-171,049,274966,1982017-18 (year-to-date at Month 10)791,066663,299 - A number of measures have been introduced by the Secretary of State to bring secondary care agency spending under control including price caps, procurement frameworks and expenditure ceilings. These have contributed to the NHS spending around £700 million less on agency in 2016/17 than in the previous financial year. - In 2017/18, NHS Improvement is taking forward a national plan to improve and increase the use of staff banks and roll out collaborative banks across the country, giving trusts a wider pool of NHS staff to fill shifts and further reducing reliance on agency staffing. Bank spending is now above agency spending every month so far this financial year, driven by an increase in volume rather than price according to NHS Improvement data.

Hospitals: Parking

David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the Government has any plans to remove charges for parking at hospitals.

Stephen Barclay: There are no plans to remove charges for parking at hospitals; however the Department keeps the policy and guidance relating to National Health Service patient, visitor and staff car parking regularly under review. National Health Service trusts make decisions locally about the provision of car parking to patients, visitors and staff. Providing car parking results in NHS trusts incurring costs for equipment, signage, lighting, insurance, security, administration and maintenance.

Obesity

David Evennett: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the cost of obesity to the (a) NHS and (b) the social care sector in each of the last five years.

Steve Brine: The economic burden of ill health due to diet, physical inactivity, smoking, alcohol and obesity in the UK: an update to 2006-07 NHS costs estimated that overweight and obesity cost the National Health Service in the United Kingdom £5.1 billion per year. This figure was uplifted to £6.1 billion in 2014/15 to take account of inflation. The Foresight team published Tackling Obesities: Future Choices in 2007. This estimated the annual costs of overweight and obesity to society and the economy as £27 billion in 2015, based on obesity prevalence at the time. In 2014 the McKinsey Global Institute estimated the cost of obesity to the UK economy as £46 billion per year. No further estimates of the costs of obesity have been made centrally. Copies of The economic burden of ill health due to diet, physical inactivity, smoking, alcohol and obesity in the UK: an update to 2006-07 NHS costs; Tackling Obesities: Future Choices; and the McKinsey Global Institute’s report Overcoming obesity: An initial economic analysis are available at:https://academic.oup.com/jpubhealth/article/33/4/527/1568587 www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/287937/07-1184x-tackling-obesities-future-choices-report.pdf www.mckinsey.com/industries/healthcare-systems-and-services/our-insights/how-the-world-could-better-fight-obesity

Mental Illness

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what guidance his Department provides to employers on supporting employees who return to work after a period of mental illness.

Jackie Doyle-Price: The Department commissions NHS Employers to provide advice, guidance and good practice to employers on all aspects of improving the physical and mental health and wellbeing of their staff. This includes “supporting staff with mental health problems”1 which includes a “return to work” section. Note: 1http://www.nhsemployers.org/your-workforce/retain-and-improve/staff-experience/health-work-and-wellbeing/protecting-staff-and-preventing-ill-health/supporting-line-managers/managers-guide-on-supporting-workplace-mental-health/supporting-staff-who-are-experiencing-mental-health-problems

Mental Health Services: Females

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that mental health services take account of the experiences and needs of women (a) in general and (b) who have experienced extensive abuse.

Jackie Doyle-Price: To help ensure people receive the appropriate care for their clinical needs, the Department’s Refocusing the Care Programme Approach guidance published in 2008 states that exploration of violence and abuse should be routinely undertaken in all mental health assessments. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guideline on antenatal care for uncomplicated pregnancies also advises appointments should enable women to discuss sensitive issues, including domestic violence and sexual abuse. In March 2017 the Department published an online Domestic Violence and Abuse resource for health professionals. It advises health staff on how they can support adults and young people over 16 who are experiencing domestic abuse, and dependent children in their households, by showing how they can respond effectively to disclosures of abuse. In 2017 the Government set up the Women’s Mental Health Taskforce, with the objective of developing proposals and delivering action collaboratively to improve women’s mental health. A core theme running through the work of the Taskforce is engaging women with experience and one of the areas it is exploring is women’s mental health in regard to violence and abuse. In addition, the Government announced in March 2018, £2 million funding over the next two years, 2018-19 and 2019-20, to lead the way in creating a model response across health services for survivors of domestic abuse. The funding will support improved identification of domestic abuse across healthcare settings, including consideration of mental health, and will support effective referral to support services.

Mental Illness: Alcoholic Drinks and Drugs

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what proportion of mental health service users also have co-morbid alcohol and drug dependence.

Jackie Doyle-Price: The information is not held in the format requested.

Mental Health Services

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what funding his Department has allocated for mental health (a) prevention and (b) treatment in the last year.

Jackie Doyle-Price: We are taking steps to increase the level of funding for mental health services in England. We have increased spending on mental health to a record £11.6 billion in 2016/17 and this is planned to rise to £11.86 billion in 2017/18. Detailed decisions about how much funding is spent on treatment or prevention are made locally, rather than centrally by the Department. The Mental Health Investment Standard (MHIS) requires all clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) to increase funding for mental health by at least as much as the overall increase to their funding allocations. 85% of CCGs achieved the MHIS in 2016/17 and from 2018/19 all CCGs will be required to meet it.

Mental Health Services

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many mental health beds have been closed since August 2013.

Jackie Doyle-Price: Information on bed levels is not held in the format requested.

Self Harm: Children and Young People

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many children and adolescents were admitted to hospital as a result of intentional self-harm in each year since 2010.

Jackie Doyle-Price: The information is not held in the format requested.

Drugs: Prices

Daniel Zeichner: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of whether further price reductions on innovative branded medicines are necessary given the majority of medicines are capped through the Pharmaceutical Price Regulation Scheme.

Steve Brine: The Pharmaceutical Price Regulation Scheme (PPRS) operates by capping overall growth in expenditure on branded medicines within the scope of the scheme. Innovative medicines, defined as those containing a new active substance, have freedom of pricing at launch under the terms of the scheme. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence assesses cost-effectiveness of the medicine and under the terms of the PPRS companies may offer discounts through a patient access scheme in order to secure a cost-effective price. In order for NHS England to manage affordability of any particular medicine a budget impact test may trigger a further commercial discussion with a company if the cost of the medicine may exceed £20 million in any of the first three years. Taken together these arrangements balance patient access to innovative cost-effective medicines with access to appropriate treatment for all patients, and secure best value for the taxpayer and a clear route to market for companies.

Nabiximols

Thelma Walker: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 12 March 2018 to Question 130778 on Nabiximols, what progress his Department has made on reducing the cost of the drug Sativex.

Steve Brine: The Department has had no discussions on reducing the cost of Savitex. The decision to prescribe and fund a licensed treatment on the National Health Service is taken by the relevant clinician and commissioner (such as NHS England or individual clinical commissioning groups) based on the individual needs of the patient. When the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) published its guideline on the treatment of adults with multiple sclerosis (MS) in 2014, it recommended that Sativex should not be offered as an option to treat spasticity in people with MS because it is not a cost effective treatment. NICE is responsible for determining whether its guidance should be updated following the publication of any significant new evidence.

Health Services: Immigrants

Mr David Lammy: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, on how many occasions people resident in the UK for (a) 10 years, (b) 20 years, (c) 30 years and (d) 40 years have been refused access to healthcare as a result of disputed immigration status.

Stephen Barclay: The information requested is not held The United Kingdom is a residence based health care system and entitlement to free National Health Service healthcare is predominantly based on being ordinarily resident in the UK. A person who is ordinarily resident in the UK is entitled to receive free NHS healthcare services as long as they can prove they are in the UK lawfully, adopted voluntarily and for settled purposes as part of the regular order of his or her life for the time being, whether of short or long duration.

Diabetes: Nurses

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that NHS nurses have the ability to (a) access training and (b) attain the minimum level of qualifications in respect of the treatment of  diabetes.

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that diabetes specialist nurses who are unable to access continuing professional development courses as a result of (a) staff shortages and (b) financial restrictions have the ability to gain the minimum level of qualifications.

Stephen Barclay: All pre-registration nurses undertake training on the management of diabetes. It is incumbent on individuals to remain updated on diabetes as part of their Nursing and Midwifery Council registration under the scope of practice. This includes diabetes knowledge, management, and delivery systems. Individual employers are responsible for funding and supporting staff with the continuing professional development (CPD) needed to maintain their professional registration so that they can continue their clinical practice in their organisation. In addition to CPD, which is necessary for clinical staff to maintain their professional registration, Health Education England invests around £350 million each year in workforce transformation to develop and upskill the current National Health Service workforce. The Diabetes Transformation Fund, set out in the NHS Shared Planning Guidance 2017 to 2019, describes transformation funding for supporting improvement in the treatment and care of people with diabetes; this can include funding for CPD training. Further information is available at the following link: https://www.england.nhs.uk/diabetes/diabetes-prevention/diabetes-transformation-fund/

Diabetes and Chiropody

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if his Department will take steps to record the number of (a) diabetic specialist nurses and (b) podiatrists in order to ensure that adequate numbers of such staff are employed in the NHS.

Stephen Barclay: The information held by NHS Digital is based upon the National Workforce Data Set (NWD) which records nationally consistent information about the healthcare workforce for the purposes of monitoring and workforce planning, but does not capture a sufficient level of detail to allow the investigation of very specialist services. NHS Digital are leading on a review of NWD codes, this review will consider whether a specific code for diabetic specialist nurses is appropriate. At present NHS Digital is engaged in a sub-group of the Workforce Information Review Group which is tasked with producing proposals to overhaul the NWD with respect to the nursing workforce. Part of this work includes giving consideration to current data gaps, and this will be focusing on the ability to capture information regarding diabetic specialist nurses, provided this is considered a distinct role and something which can practically be captured as part of standard coding – this is not always possible, for example where a role which is not clearly defined or effectively cuts across many other roles rather than being a distinct role in its own right. Podiatrists and chiropodists are recorded under a single set of occupation codes as together they represent just one of the 16 professions requiring registration with the Health and Care Professions Council. NHS Digital has not received any requests, to date, to capture data specifically about podiatrists as opposed to the current joint data capture with chiropodists. In future there is likely to be a review of the current coding, guidance, data quality and analysis related to Allied Health Professional staff, and this question could then be asked of any such group as part of its review.

NHS: ICT

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department has taken to improve the security of the IT systems in the NHS since the cyber attack of May 2017.

Jackie Doyle-Price: Since the WannaCry cyber attack, the Department has taken a number of further actions, building on a programme of work led by the Department working with its arm’s-length bodies since 2010. These actions are described below: - The Department’s Data Security Incident Response Plan reviewed. System-wide Data and Cyber Security Operations Playbook developed - June 2017;- Customer Support Agreement with Microsoft - June 2017;- The Department’s response to National Data Guardian Review was published including cyber security plans - July 2017;- NHS Digital published unsupported systems guidance - July 2017;- E-learning package launched for National Health Service staff - July 2017;- Data security now part of the Care Quality Commission’s (CQC’s) assessments of well led NHS trusts. General practitioners and adult social care providers followed in November - September 2017;- 2017/18 Data Security and Protection Requirements published - October 2017;- Text messaging relay service launched - November 2017;- First health cyber-attack simulated table top exercise - December 2017;- 34 of our major trauma centres and ambulance trusts completed on-site assessments - December 2017;- 190 organisations completed on-site assessments - January 2018;- Additional £25 million funding secured to support major trauma centres and ambulance trusts with their critical infrastructure - January 2018;- Initial £150 million identified via reprioritisation across NHS IT portfolio to continue investment in local infrastructure and national systems and services to improve monitoring, resilience and response - January 2018;- 100% of NHS trusts and Commissioning Support Units signed up to CareCERT Collect - January 2018;- New Cloud guidance published - January 2018;- New CQC unannounced cyber security inspections pilot started - February 2018; and- All major trauma centres and ambulance trusts completed on-site assessments - February 2018. These actions are further described in ‘Securing cyber resilience in health and care: A progress update’ published by the Department on 1 February 2018 which can be accessed at the link below: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/678484/Securing_cyber_resillience_in_health_and_care.pdf

NHS Walk-in Centres: Lincolnshire

Karen Lee: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the effect of the closure of Lincoln’s walk-in centre on people’s access to care in (a) Lincoln constituency and (b) Lincolnshire.

Stephen Barclay: Following a review of the users and treatments provided at the Lincoln Walk in Centre (WiC), the West Lincolnshire Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) determined that alternative provision, including out of hours general practitioner (GP) access, NHS 111 and Clinical Assessment Service, community hubs, increased primary capacity, and use of local pharmacy walk-in facilities would better meet the health needs of the local population in Lincoln. The CCG worked in partnership with Lincolnshire Community Health Service, which provided the WiC services, to ensure an effective plan was in place to facilitate transition. This plan incorporated the introduction of triage at the WiC to direct the public to appropriate, alternative provision. The 33 GP practices within the CCG area have arrangements in place to support any increased demand following the WiC closure, including provision of nearly 200 additional GP appointments per day across the area. As a safeguard, the CCG is also supporting additional GP out of hours provision at weekends during March to mid-April, to enable the new service to become established. Since the weekday closure of the WiC, West Lincolnshire CCG report no adverse impact.

Mental Health Services

Paul Girvan: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of (a) gym membership and (b) other recreational therapies for the treatment of mental health issues.

Jackie Doyle-Price: The Department has not assessed the potential merits of gym membership for the treatment of mental health issues. The implementation framework for No Health without Mental Health, a cross Government mental health outcomes strategy for all ages, published in 2012, recognised that participation in physical activity is key for mental wellbeing. There is a growing body of evidence which supports the effectiveness of non-medical, recreational therapies or activities to promote mental health and wellbeing and to support recovery. Social prescribing is an intervention through which people are supported to access non-medical services in the community. Examples include befriending, art classes and exercise classes, but a wide variety of activities can be included. It has the potential to tackle loneliness and improve wellbeing by connecting people with support in their local communities. NHS England are encouraging general practitioners to support social prescribing as one of the 10 high impact actions to release capacity set out in the General Practice Forward View. Guidelines issued by the Chief Medical Officer recommend that adults be physically active for up to 150 minutes a week. Furthermore, there is evidence that being physically active can reduce someone’s risk of depression by up to 30% as well as reducing stress and improving sleep. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) recommends that people with mild to moderate depression take part in about three sessions of physical exercise per week, each session lasting about 45 minutes to one hour, over 10 to 14 weeks. Physical activity is not restricted to the gym; it can incorporate activity such as walking. NICE Clinical Guideline 178 published in 2014, also recommended the use of arts therapies using art, music, dance or drama in groups of people with similar mental health problems for the prevention and management of psychosis and schizophrenia in adults. More information is available at: https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/cg178/ifp/chapter/psychological-therapy

Urology

Sir Mark Hendrick: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what role the NHS has nationally in assisting with the review of the Stoma Care National Clinical Guidelines.

Steve Brine: The National Health Service has no formal role nationally in assisting with the review of the Stoma Care National Clinical Guidelines.

Smoking

Alex Sobel: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of trends in the level of smoking cessations as a result of the introduction of regulations on the minimum size of tobacco and cigarette packs in 2017.

Steve Brine: The Standardised Packaging of Tobacco Products Regulations 2015 came into force on 20 May 2016. It is too soon to effectively evaluate the impact of this legislation; however, the Government is committed to completing and publishing a full post-implementation review before 20 May 2021, and to publishing subsequent reports at intervals not exceeding five years.

Psychiatry: Children and Young People

Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many NHS child and adolescent psychiatrists have been employed in the East of England in each of the last five years for which data is available.

Jackie Doyle-Price: NHS Digital publishes workforce statistics and the following table shows the number of child and adolescent psychiatrists employed in the Health Education East of England region between September 2012 and September 2017 and latest data available. National Health Service Hospital and Community Health Services (HCHS): Child and adolescent psychiatrists, as at 30 September for each specified year and latest data available, full time equivalents (FTE):YearChild and Adolescent Psychiatrists in Health Education East of England region (FTE)September 201283September 201383September 201484September 201573September 201662September 201765December 201769Source: NHS Digital Monthly HCHS workforce statistics. Notes: FTE figures are given as this is the most accurate measure of service capacity. FTE figures are rounded to the nearest whole number.

Orthopaedics : Cardiovascular System and Diabetes

Dr Paul Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many lower limb amputations associated with peripheral arterial disease and diabetes have taken place in the NHS in each year since 2008-09; and how many of those amputations have taken place in each (a) strategic health authority area prior to 2012-13 and (b) clinical commissioning group area since 2012-13 .

Steve Brine: NHS Digital have provided us with data that detail a count of finished consultant episodes, with a primary diagnosis of diabetes or peripheral arterial disease and a main procedure of lower limb amputation. These are tabulated by strategic health authority area for the financial years between 2008-09 and 2011-12 and clinical commissioning group for treatment for the financial years between 2012-13 and 2016-17. The Clinical Coding team have advised that I73.9 - Peripheral vascular disease unspecified includes but is not limited to peripheral arterial disease. Tables and data are attached.



PQ133156 attached document
(Word Document, 72.23 KB)

Orthopaedics

Dr Paul Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much the NHS has spent on lower limb amputations in each of the last five years.

Dr Paul Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much the NHS has spent on rehabilitation following lower limb amputations in each of the last five years.

Caroline Dinenage: The information is not available in the format requested. The table below shows the estimated total cost of limb amputations. The table shows the cost of amputation of single or multiple limb but does not differentiate between lower or upper and single or multiple amputation stump or partial foot amputation procedures for diabetes or arterial disease. Estimated total cost (£ million)YearLimb amputations unspecifiedAmputation for diabetes or arterial diseaseTotal2012-13£53.0£23.0£76.02013-14£52.7£45.0£97.72014-15£56.5£44.4£100.92015-16£59.1£47.1£106.22016-17£59.2£48.3£107.5Source: Department of Health and Social Care, Reference Costs The table below shows the estimated total cost of rehabilitation for the amputation of limb in each of the last five years.YearEstimated costs (£ million)2012-13£5.42013-14£7.32014-15£6.92015-16£7.32016-17£6.8Source: Department of Health and Social Care, Reference Costs The data source for the table is from reference costs, which are the average unit costs to National Health Service trusts and NHS foundation trusts of providing defined services in a given financial year to NHS patients. Reference costs for acute care are collected by healthcare resource group, which are standard groupings of clinically similar treatments which use common levels of healthcare resource. Reference costs represent the cost to the NHS provider, not the cost to the commissioner.

Diabetes: Chiropody

Dr Paul Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much the NHS has spent on treating diabetic foot ulcers in each of the last five years.

Steve Brine: The information requested is not centrally held.

Chiropody

Dr Paul Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many multidisciplinary foot care teams there are in the NHS; and how many of those teams have been established in each of the last five years.

Steve Brine: The information requested is not centrally held.

Carillion

James Frith: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many former Carillion directors are employed as advisers on the completion of the Royal Liverpool University Hospital.

Stephen Barclay: Two employees of the Carillion group of companies with director in their titles are still involved with the Private Finance Initiative (PFI) Company to deliver the PFI scheme for the Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen University Hospital NHS Trust. Neither employee has been a Director on the Board of Carillion PLC.

Blood: EU Countries

Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what information NHS Blood and Transplant holds on the amount of blood and tissue imported from other EU countries in each of the last three years.

Jackie Doyle-Price: In the last three years NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) has imported two rare red cell units from the European Union. Approximately 24,000 units of plasma per year are imported from the EU. NHSBT has not imported any tissues (excluding solid organs) from the EU in the past three years.

University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of bed capacity in University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust.

Stephen Barclay: Bed availability and occupancy is managed at a local level. Hospitals have a responsibility in ensuring that they are operating with the necessary beds available to support effective patient flow and safety. NHS England publishes quarterly information on the numbers of available and occupied beds open overnight or day only in all National Health Service organisations, most recently for quarter 3 of 2017-18. This data is available at: https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/bed-availability-and-occupancy/bed-data-overnight/ https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/bed-availability-and-occupancy/bed-data-day-only/

Colorectal Cancer: West Midlands

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the take-up rate for bowel cancer screening in (a) the West Midlands and (b) Coventry was in 2017.

Steve Brine: The most recent data available is for 2016/17. During 2016/17 the national average for screening uptake was 58.8%. The uptake for Coventry was 56.4% (Coventry’s uptake rate is included in the West Midlands figure) and West Midlands was 57.7% (this is a consolidated percentage based on all regions within the West Midlands). NHS England is responsible for commissioning bowel screening services to meet programme standards including coverage. NHS England is working with providers to help identify and address any issues and is committed to improving coverage and reducing mortality from bowel cancer.

Mental Health Services: Sustainability and Transformation Partnerships

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what guidance his Department has issued on how to include and integrate mental health into Sustainability and Transformation Partnerships; and if he will publish any such guidance.

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans his Department has to inform Sustainability and Transformation Partnerships (STP) leads on how to integrate mental health into STP plans.

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the the reasons for the low proportion of total funding for NHS trusts for the Sustainability and Transformation Fund that is made available for mental health trusts; and if he will make a statement.

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if his Department will take steps to ensure that Sustainability and Transformation Plans do not reduce how much they spend on mental health care.

Jackie Doyle-Price: The National Health Service recently published guidance setting out the expectations for commissioners and providers who make up sustainability and transformation partnerships’ (STPs) footprints for updating their operational plans for 2018/19. This includes confirming a continued commitment to deliver service expansions set out by the Mental Health Taskforce and achievement by each and every clinical commissioning group (CCG) of the Mental Health Investment Standard. This requires all CCGs to increase spending on mental health by at least as much as the percentage overall increase to their allocations and is subject to confirmation by their auditors. NHS England’s national mental health team and regional teams are working closely with STP footprints to deliver the Five Year Forward View for Mental Health commitments, based on the trajectories published in implementing the Five Year Forward View for Mental Health. Through this and careful tracking of progress and investment, NHS England will ensure implementation of recommendations to improve community-based support for people with mental health conditions. The £1.8 billion Sustainability and Transformation Fund was created to help improve NHS financial sustainability and performance management. To help achieve this aim the majority of funding is allocated (subject to trusts meeting both financial and performance targets) to providers of emergency care that are under the greatest financial pressure. Recognising the need to incentivise the overall sustainability of the provider sector a further £100 million is allocated to non-acute providers, including mental health trusts, in 2017-18.

Mental Illness: Finance

Dr Lisa Cameron: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 6 March 2018 to Question 30635, what proportion of mental health patients are signposted to money advice services as part of their care.

Jackie Doyle-Price: The data is not collected centrally.

NHS Trusts

Rosie Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 13 March 2018 to Question 130814, if he will take steps to provide guidance to NHS Trusts on responding to correspondence from hon. Members.

Stephen Barclay: The Department has no plans to issue guidance to National Health Service trusts on responding to parliamentary business. We would expect NHS trusts to follow the Code of Conduct for NHS Managers which sets out their responsibility to answer to Parliament, Ministers and the Department. The Department’s view is clear, that Members of Parliament as representatives of their community should receive timely engagement.

Nurses: Training

Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department has taken to monitor the number of applications for university nursing courses in England in the current 2018 undergraduate cycle, including applications for (a) mental health and (b) learning disability courses.

Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the timetable is to publish information on the number of applications for university nursing courses in England in the current 2018 undergraduate cycle by nursing discipline in each region of the UK.

Stephen Barclay: The Department is not responsible for collecting data on the number of applications to study nursing degree courses. The Universities and Colleges Admissions Service publishes data on the number of applications to full-time undergraduate courses. Further information and links to 2017 and 2018 application cycle data are available at: https://www.ucas.com/corporate/data-and-analysis The Department is working with relevant bodies across health and education to monitor the effects of the broader healthcare funding reforms and, as part of this, plans to publish an update, in autumn 2018, following the closure of the 2017/18 application cycle. In order to meet the growing need to increase the future supply of registered nurses, additional clinical placement funding was announced by the Department in August and October 2017. This will enable around 5,000 more nursing students to enter training each year from September 2018; an historic increase. Broadening routes into nursing is a priority for the Department. That is why we have developed the new nursing associate role and the Nurse Degree Apprenticeship which will open up routes into the registered nursing profession for thousands of people from all backgrounds and allow employers to grow their own workforce.

Heart Diseases: Children

Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what research his Department has commissioned on the cost of screening young people at 14 years of age for cardiac abnormalities.

Steve Brine: The Department has not commissioned research on the cost of screening young people at 14 years of age for cardiac abnormalities. The Department’s National Institute for Health Research welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health, including young sudden cardiac death (SCD). The United Kingdom National Screening Committee (UK NSC) advises Ministers and the National Health Service in all four United Kingdom countries on all aspects of screening. The UK NSC last reviewed screening for SCD in 2015 and it was recommended that screening should not be offered. The UK NSC will review the evidence for screening for the major causes of SCD in young people between the ages of 12 to 39 years in 2018/19 as per its three yearly cycle.

Heart Diseases: Babies

Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what research his Department has commissioned on the cost of genetic screening at birth for cardiac abnormalities.

Steve Brine: The Department has not commissioned research on the cost of genetic screening at birth for cardiac abnormalities. Both the Foetal Anomaly and the Newborn and Infant Physical Examination screening programmes offer heart screening to detect abnormalities early however not all abnormalities can be identified especially babies born with heart defects, as this can be more difficult to detect. The Department’s National Institute for Health Research welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health, including young sudden cardiac death.

Heart Diseases: Children

Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many children under the age of 18 have been screened for cardiac abnormalities in the last 10 years.

Steve Brine: The Department does not hold this information. The United Kingdom National Screening Committee (UK NSC) advises Ministers and the National Health Service in all four United Kingdom countries on all aspects of screening. The UK NSC will review the evidence for screening for the major causes of sudden cardiac death in young people between the ages of 12 to 39 years in 2018/19 as per its three yearly cycle.

Nursing: Training

Liz McInnes: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will retain the NHS Bursary for postgraduate pre-registration nursing students.

Stephen Barclay: On 6 February 2018, the Department for Education laid amendments to their student support regulations to allow pre-registration postgraduate nursing students to access student loans from August 2018. Subject to parliamentary approval these students will have access to the standard student support system rather than receive a National Health Service bursary. This is in line with changes made in August 2017 for other healthcare students, including undergraduate nurses. Allowing these students to access the loans system will enable them to access up to 25% more financial support while they study than under the bursary system. In addition to the grants available from the student loans company the Government has made available additional funding to support students whilst attending the clinical placement element of their courses: child dependents allowance, travel and dual accommodation and an exceptional hardship fund.

Department for International Development

Department for International Development: Cleaning Services

Catherine West: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what information he holds on the rate of remuneration for cleaners in his Department.

Harriett Baldwin: The Department for International Development has a contract with Interserve Facilities Management to provide all facilities management services including cleaning. The contract is part of a larger affiliates contract led by the Cabinet Office.The cleaners employed under this contract are paid the national living wage in the East Kilbride office and the London Living Wage in the Whitehall office. This is uplifted every year in line with the Living Wage Foundation.

Developing Countries: Internally Displaced People

Nick Thomas-Symonds: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what assessment her Department has made of the effectiveness of its support for internally displaced people; and whether her Department plans to take any steps to improve the effectiveness of that support.

Alistair Burt: DFID has many programmes which address the needs of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), all of which are subject to regular review of their effectiveness. At a global level, the UK is supportive of the idea of a UN High Level Panel on IDPs to assess the effectiveness of the current response to internal displacement and galvanise further political and operational action. We are discussing this closely with other interested States and UN agencies.

Department for International Development: Assets

Peter Dowd: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how much money her Department has raised from the sale of (a) assets, (b) land and (c) buildings in each year since 2010.

Harriett Baldwin: Since April 2010, the Department for International Development has raised £29.6m from the sale of assets, of which £20.3m is from the disposal of buildings. The remaining sales were made up of miscellaneous items such as equipment and vehicles. YearTotal Proceeds from Sale of Property, Vehicles, Equipment*Total Proceeds from Sale of LandTotal Proceeds from Sale of Buildings£’000£’000£’0002016/1716002015/161,902002014/1520,458020,2002013/141,196002012/13590002011/123,841002010/111,638098Total 29,641020,298

Developing Countries: Civil Service

Andrew Percy: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps the Government takes to help share UK civil service expertise with developing nations.

Harriett Baldwin: The Bilateral Development Review of 2016 and DFID’s Economic Development Strategy of 2017 have set out a strong and ambitious vision for the UK to develop a world-leading partnerships offer to share the best of the UK’s public sector skills and expertise.Many UK civil service institutions already make their expertise available to developing countries. For example, HMRC has resident advisers working in several African countries, working with their counterparts to build their capacity to manage taxes and auditing. The Government Communications Service has partnerships with Tunisia, Afghanistan, Ukraine, and Jordan to improve their government communications across a range of policy areas, with a focus on impartiality. The department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy is supporting regulatory reforms in India, Indonesia, South Africa, Mexico and Brazil.To boost our UK approach to partnerships, DFID’s GREAT for Partnership programme will support a range of peer-to-peer partnerships between UK institutions and their counterparts in developing countries over the next four years. This will aim to provide the technical and professional support that partner governments request, in line with UK priorities and values. The programme is currently at an early stage of implementation as we test the model, before we implement at scale.

Overseas Aid

Andrew Percy: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department takes to ensure data gathering on the effects of its programmes is (a) accurate and (b) comprehensive.

Harriett Baldwin: DFID is committed to ensuring we gather accurate and appropriate data in order to effectively monitor the impact of our programmes. We work with our implementing partners to ensure robust programme monitoring frameworks are in place. All DFID programmes are subject to Annual Reviews and Project Completion Reviews which assess and record how funds have been used; the results delivered (including assessing data quality); and reviews the criterions routinely used to monitor the programme’s activities. Risks or issues identified during the reviews are recorded, addressed and monitored. DFID also often uses monitoring agents, independent audits, and other additional safeguards. Headline data on results for our programmes are aligned with the strategic objectives in the UK Aid Strategy and summarised by sector in DFID’s Single Departmental Plan (SDP). The SDP results are published every year in DFID Annual Report and Accounts and produced according to published methodologies.

Syria: Humanitarian Aid

Alex Sobel: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what discussions her Department has had with the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs on steps to establish medical evacuations and increased humanitarian assistance in Eastern Ghouta.

Alistair Burt: DFID officials discuss regularly the humanitarian situation in Eastern Ghouta with the United Nationals Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), including the issue of medical evacuations, and how to ensure humanitarian assistance reaches those most in need, as called for by UN Security Council Resolution 2401. However, humanitarian access is severely constrained by the Assad regime.

Sierra Leone: Female Genital Mutilation

Liz McInnes: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what recent discussions she has had with her counterpart in Sierra Leone on the temporary ban on female genital mutilation introduced by that Government; and if she will make representations to that Government to make the ban permanent.

Harriett Baldwin: The Government of Sierra Leone has placed a temporary ban on female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) during the March 2018 elections. This was in place for the first round of voting and remains in place during the run off vote for the Presidency. The ban was put in place to prevent candidates paying for girls to undergo the practice as a method of influencing voters. The UK is in full support of this ban. In our messages to all presidential candidates we asked for the protection of the rights of women and girls. The UK Government has consistently lobbied the Government of Sierra Leone to fulfil their international obligation to legislate against the practice of FGM/C and to approve a National Strategy to support this. We will raise this issue as a priority with the new government and we stand ready to support implementation of the Strategy once approved. We will also work to build coalitions of support to end the practice and lobby government to take the necessary action.

Palestinians: Civil Servants

Joan Ryan: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, with reference to the Answer of 23 February 2017 to Question 64650, of how many Palestinian Authority Ministry of Education public servants her Department pays the salaries.

Alistair Burt: The UK financial disbursement to the Palestinian Authority (PA) in February 2017 contributed towards the salaries of approximately 33,000 public servants under the Ministry of Education and Higher Education.

Palestinians: Teachers

Joan Ryan: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, with reference to the Answer of 23 February 2017 to Question 64650, of how many Palestinian Authority Ministry of Education teachers her Department pays the salaries.

Alistair Burt: The UK financial disbursement to the Palestinian Authority (PA) in February 2017 contributed towards the salaries of approximately 33,000 public servants under the Ministry of Education and Higher Education. This data cannot be further disaggregated on public record.

West Bank: Schools

Joan Ryan: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, which the schools are in the West Bank for which her Department pays the salaries of the teachers.

Alistair Burt: UK financial assistance to the Palestinian Authority (PA) contributes to the salaries of individual vetted health and education public servants in the West Bank on the EU Palestinian-European Socio-Economic Management Assistance (PEGASE) list. These individuals are screened against international and ad hoc sanctions lists. They are then deployed to schools across the West Bank by the PA. The EU PEGASE mechanism therefore focuses on ensuring that individuals are comprehensively vetted and that UK funds are traced to the end beneficiary rather than focussing on where each individual is deployed at any one time.

Palestinians: Civil Servants

Joan Ryan: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, pursuant to the Answer of 23 February 2017 to Question 64650, whether any of those public servants in the West Bank, whose salaries are paid by her Department, are responsible for writing, approving or implementing the 2017 Palestinian Authority schools curriculum.

Alistair Burt: According to the Palestinian Authority (PA) Ministry of Education and Higher Education, all of their schools in the West Bank are using the revised 2017 PA curriculum. UK funded public servants and teachers under the Ministry of Education and Higher Education are therefore involved in the implementation process.

Palestinians: Teachers

Joan Ryan: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, with reference to the Answer of 23 February 2017 to Question 64650, whether any teachers in the West Bank whom her Department pays the salaries of are teaching at schools that deliver the revised 2017 Palestinian Authority curriculum.

Alistair Burt: According to the Palestinian Authority (PA) Ministry of Education and Higher Education, all of their schools in the West Bank are using the revised 2017 PA curriculum. The UK Government is working with the PA Ministry of Education and Higher Education to maintain the delivery of high quality education, including through its curriculum.

Syria: International Assistance

Dan Carden: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what discussions she has had with her counterparts in NATO countries on providing humanitarian assistance in Turkish-held parts of northern Syria.

Alistair Burt: We are following closely developments in Afrin and wider northern Syria. DFID regularly discusses the need for humanitarian assistance to reach those who need it most, including those across northern Syria, with a number of NATO allies.

Department for Education

Universities: Freedom of Expression

Andrew Percy: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to tackle no platform practices at universities.

Mr Sam Gyimah: The government does not support blanket no-platforming of individuals or organisations who are legally exercising their right to freedom of speech. Universities have a legal duty to take reasonable steps to ensure freedom of speech, including for visiting speakers under the Education Act (No 2) 1986. We extended this duty through the Higher Education and Research Act to cover all providers registered with the Office for Students. The Office for Students will also play a role in championing free speech, which is built into its regulatory framework.

Prisons: Vocational Guidance

Imran Hussain: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what professional qualifications are required to work as a careers advisor in prisons.

Anne Milton: The minimum acceptable qualification that a funded National Careers Service adviser must achieve before they are permitted to deliver careers information, advice and guidance in a community or prison setting is a Level 3 Certificate in Advice and Guidance.

Apprentices

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department has taken to ensure that the proportion of apprenticeships started by (a)  people of black and minority ethnic backgrounds and (b) with a learning difficulty or disability is increased by 20 per cent by 2020.

Anne Milton: To drive up apprenticeships among under-represented groups, including black, Asian and minority ethnic individuals, we launched a new partnership in February with five major cities in England, supported by city Mayors, to ensure apprenticeships are accessible to individuals from all backgrounds. The department is delivering the recommendations of the Maynard Taskforce to improve access to apprenticeships for people with learning difficulties and/or disabilities. We have introduced legislation which allows an adjustment to the minimum English and mathematics requirement for those with learning difficulties or a disability. We have made British Sign Language (BSL) an alternative to English Functional Skills for those apprentices who have BSL as their first language. The funding system is intended to encourage the successful apprenticeship take up and likely achievement of particular groups, including people with learning difficulties and/or disabilities. We are working with the Institute for Apprenticeships to ensure end-point assessments can be reasonably adjusted for apprentices with learning difficulties and/or disabilities. Our Apprenticeship Diversity Champions Network, now comprised of over 40 employers, continues to influence the behaviour of other employers to support more people from underrepresented groups to access apprenticeships.

Pre-school Education: Disadvantaged

Lucy Powell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to increase the number of free early education places for disadvantaged two year-olds.

Nadhim Zahawi: All local authorities received an increase in their funding rates for the two-year-old entitlement in April 2017, and the average hourly funding rate has increased from £5.09 to £5.39. We expect the vast majority of this funding to be passed directly to providers, ensuring they benefit from our increased funding rates and are able to provide places where they are needed. Our support contractor, Childcare Works, is working proactively with providers and Local Authorities to support effective market management, including for two-year-old entitlement places.

Schools: Inspections

James Frith: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether he plans to review Ofsted guidance to enable inspectors to evaluate a school's medical conditions policy and the effective implementation of that policy as part of a routine inspection; and whether he has received any representations on that matter.

Nadhim Zahawi: Ofsted’s corporate strategy, published in September 2017, sets out a programme of work to inform planned changes to the education inspection framework from September 2019. Guidance to school inspectors is the responsibility of Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector, Amanda Spielman. The department has not received any representations on this matter.

Schools: Polling Stations

Cat Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to address concerns over interruption to schooling arising from the use of schools as polling places ahead of the local government elections in May.

Nick Gibb: Local authorities have the power to require schools to allow their premises to be used as polling stations during an election. They must use this power reasonably. Whether or not a school closes or remains open in these circumstances is a decision for the head teacher. Head teachers’ decisions about closure will depend upon whether arrangements can be made for voting to take place discretely within their school. It may be possible for a school to remain open if pupils and the voting public can be kept apart, with a separate entrance and exit with no compromise to the school's controlled access.

Children: Day Care

Lucy Powell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what progress has been made on the commitment in the Early Years Workforce Strategy 2017 to develop criteria for the content of level two childcare qualifications; how many meetings have taken place with the childcare sector and awarding organisations; and who attended such meetings.

Nadhim Zahawi: A public consultation on the criteria for level two childcare qualifications ran from 7 December 2017 to 28 February 2018. The consultation document can be found at the following link:https://consult.education.gov.uk/childcare-providers-and-regulation/improving-level-2-qualifications-for-the-early-edu/supporting_documents/Level%202%20Qualification%20Criteria%20Consultation%20Document%2006%2011%202017%20Accessible%20FINAL.pdf. The government’s response to the public consultation will be published in due course.

Pre-school Education: Staff

Lucy Powell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what changes have been made to his Department's existing data collection as a result of the commitment to review workforce data in the Early years Workforce Strategy 2017.

Nadhim Zahawi: The following changes to our early years data collections have been implemented. In the 2018 Survey of Childcare and Early Years Providers we have:Added a question about gender of the paid workforce, which was not asked in 2016.Improved the questions on ethnicity, by introducing more granular categories for responses and we are asking about the ethnicity of apprentices for the first time.Improved the wording around staff qualifications in the survey to also include relevant teaching qualifications. The 2018 Early Years Census asks for a wider range of information on staff qualifications than in previous years, specifically level 2 and 3 staff and those with graduate qualifications (early years professional status, early years teacher status and qualified teacher status).

Pre-school Education: Teachers

Lucy Powell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many people have been awarded early years teacher status in each year since 2013.

Lucy Powell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many people have taken part in early years initial teacher training in each year since September 2013.

Lucy Powell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many early years teachers have trained through each of the four teacher training routes referred to in paragraph 24 of the Early Years Workforce Strategy 2017 since September 2013.

Nadhim Zahawi: The Initial Teacher Training (ITT) Census publishes experimental statistics on the number of new entrants to Early Years ITT, including a breakdown by route. Data going back to academic year 2016/17 are available in the latest ITT Census publication, available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/initial-teacher-training-trainee-number-census-2017-to-2018. The department is unable to provide any data collected prior to the experimental statistics released with the ITT Census on 24 November 2016.

Pre-school Education: Teachers

Lucy Powell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many early years teacher trainees who have started an early years teacher qualification have switched to initial teacher training to become a qualified teacher in each year since September 2013.

Nadhim Zahawi: The information requested is not held centrally.The number of new entrants to initial teacher training ITT is published in the annual ITT Census, which since 2016/17, has included experimental statistics on the number of trainees starting Early Years ITT programmes. The census is available to view here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-teacher-training.

Teachers: Average Earnings

Lucy Powell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the average salary of an (a) early years, (b) primary school, (3) secondary school and (d) special school teacher was in each year since September 2013.

Nick Gibb: The following table provides the average salaries of full and part-time teachers in service in state funded nursery and primary schools, state funded secondary schools and state funded special schools in England in November 2013 to 2016.  2013201420152016State Funded Nursery and Primary£36,200£36,300£36,600£37,200State Funded Secondary£38,000£38,300£38,700£39,500State Funded Special£39,800£39,900£39,900£40,300Source: School Workforce CensusFigures are rounded to the nearest £100. The information for November 2015 and 2016 is publicly available in Table 9a in each annual statistical first release ‘School Workforce in England’ available at:https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-school-workforce.

Teachers: Average Earnings

Lucy Powell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the average salary of a trainee (a) early years, (b) primary school, (c) secondary school and (d) special school teacher was in each year since September 2013.

Nick Gibb: The information requested is not held centrally for teachers going through Initial Teacher Training (ITT). Statutory guidance for accredited ITT providers, including for employment-based ITT routes where trainee teachers earn a salary whilst they train: “For the period of training all applicants must be employed as unqualified teachers at a school, and (except applicants employed in academies or independent schools) must be paid in accordance with at least point one on the unqualified teachers’ pay scale for the period of their training”. The minimum of the unqualified teachers’ pay range is specified in the school teachers’ pay and conditions document. The below table shows this for each year from 2013 to 2017. Employment-based trainees who are employed in maintained schools must be paid at least the minimum of this range. Academies or independent schools are not required to follow this range, although they may choose to do so. Minimum of unqualified teacher pay range – 2013 to 2017  England and Wales (excluding the London Area) £InnerLondonArea £Outer London Area £Fringe Area £Minimum from 1 September 201315,97620,09218,97717,025Minimum from 1 September 201416,13620,29319,16717,196Minimum from 1 September 201516,29820,49619,35917,368Minimum from 1 September 201616,46120,70119,55317,542Minimum from 1 September 201716,62620,90919,74917,718Source: School teachers' pay and conditions documents

Teachers: Average Earnings

Lucy Powell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the average salary of an (a) early years, (b) primary school, (c) secondary school and (d) special school teacher was five years after they started teaching.

Nick Gibb: The information requested is not held centrally. Whilst the average salary in not available, general information on salaries of full and part-time teachers in service in state funded nursery and primary schools, state funded secondary schools and state funded special schools are publicly available in Table 9a within the statistical first release ‘School Workforce in England, November 2016’, available at the following web link:https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/school-workforce-in-england-november-2016.

Pre-school Education: Teachers

Lucy Powell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many and what proportion of graduates who were already employed in an early years setting have undertaken early years initial teacher training in each year since September 2013.

Nadhim Zahawi: The information requested is not held centrally.

Pre-school Education: Teachers

Lucy Powell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many bursaries have been provided to trainee early years teachers in each year since September 2013; and what the average amount was of those bursaries.

Nadhim Zahawi: In academic year 2016/17, there were 110 trainees undertaking either the Graduate Entry or School Direct postgraduate route to Early Years Initial Teacher Training (ITT). Bursaries are payable subject to eligibility criteria; the bursary amount paid to providers in 2016/17 was £394,600. Information from periods prior to 2016/17 is not held centrally.

Pre-school Education: Teachers

Lucy Powell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many early years teachers who have previously received an early years bursary remain an early years teacher working in a maintained setting.

Nadhim Zahawi: The information requested is not held centrally.

Pre-school Education: Teachers

Lucy Powell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much funding has been made available for early years teacher training courses in each year since September 2013; and how much funding will be made available in the next three years.

Nadhim Zahawi: The early years initial teacher training (EYITT) routes are demand-led and we have always met the needs of EYITT providers in terms of numbers of places they have requested. EYITT providers have confirmed the allocation of places they would like to request for the academic year 2018/19.

Pre-school Education: Teachers

Lucy Powell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much funding has been allocated to nursery employers to help those employers support graduates in their settings to become early years teachers.

Nadhim Zahawi: For the academic year 2017/18, £3,017,000 has been allocated to nursery employers to help support trainees on the Graduate Employment Based route for Early Years ITT.

Pre-school Education: Teachers

Lucy Powell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many training providers there are for (a) level two, (b) level three and (c) graduate early years teacher training routes.

Nadhim Zahawi: The current list of accredited providers of early years initial teacher training (EYITT) in England is published here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/early-years-initial-teacher-training-itt-providers-and-school-direct-early-years-lead-organisations/early-years-initial-teacher-training-itt-providers-and-school-direct-lead-organisations.EYITT providers are listed by region and information is given on which of the training routes they offer; all of which lead to early year’s teacher status (EYTS) upon successful completion. The four routes to EYTS are graduate entry, graduate employment-based, undergraduate, and assessment only. Additionally there are courses provided at levels 2 and 3 in early years education and care. In the year 2016/17, 186 providers delivered level 2 and 952 providers delivered level 3.

Department for Education: Internet

Lucy Powell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many visits the landing page for the specific early years area on the Get into teaching website had in each year since that website was launched compared with the equivalent landing page for (a) primary teaching and (b) secondary teaching.

Nadhim Zahawi: Visits to the landing pages for early years, primary, and secondary on the Get Into Teaching website since its relaunch by financial year are as follows:  Financial year 2015-16 (from 20 Apr 2015)Financial year 2016-17Financial year 2017-18 (to 14 Mar 2018)Total page views Early years landing page253,485264,673163,151Total page views Primary landing page94,22790,28491,806Total page views Secondary landing page73,04694,19492,242Total page views Website ALL11,468,14714,415,48912,940,487Total web visits (sessions)3,744,7565,055,5114,691,802 Source: Google Analytics, 14 March 2018.

Teachers: Recruitment

Lucy Powell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the annual marketing budget is for recruiting (a) early years, (b) primary and (c) secondary school teachers.

Nick Gibb: The marketing budget for recruitment to post-graduate initial teacher training for the financial year 2017-18 is £15.2 million. There is no budget breakdown between primary and secondary recruitment. The marketing budget for recruitment to the separate early years teaching entry route for the financial year 2017-18 is £100,000.

Pre-school Education: Teachers

Lucy Powell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when his Department plans to publish the results of the review into early years initial teacher training announced in the Early Years Workforce Strategy 2017.

Nadhim Zahawi: Last year the department conducted an internal policy review of the early years initial teacher training (EYITT) routes. Following the policy review we made the decision to close the School Direct EYITT route. This particular route was delivered as a pilot but did not attract sufficient interest from potential applicants to be viable in the long term. However, we continue to provide alternative EYITT routes for graduates and undergraduates.

Pre-school Education: Staff

Lucy Powell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the Early Years Workforce Strategy 2017, what progress has been made on the feasibility study due to report in March 2018 into developing a programme that specifically seeks to grow the graduate workforce in disadvantaged areas.

Nadhim Zahawi: We are considering a range of approaches to supporting graduates in the early years workforce – including in disadvantaged areas. This work is still underway and further information will be made available in due course.

Free School Meals

David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children are eligible for free school meals.

Nadhim Zahawi: The number and proportion of pupils eligible for and claiming free school meals in England is published at the annual ‘Schools, pupils and their characteristics’ statistical release, available to view here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/schools-pupils-and-their-characteristics-january-2017. Data for each school is available in the Underlying data: SFR28/2017 of the annual ‘Schools, pupils and their characteristics’ statistical release, contained in file ‘SFR28_2017_Schools_Pupils_UD’. The figures can be filtered by school phase (column N), school type (column O), number of pupils taking a free school meal on census day (column EB) and Free School Meal eligibility (column ED).

Literacy: Essex

Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to raise standards of literacy at schools in Essex.

Nick Gibb: Being able to read is vital for children’s future success. Thanks to the Government reforms and the hard work of teachers across the country, 154,000 more six year olds are on track to become fluent readers, and international evidence has shown that our nine year olds have achieved their highest ever scores in reading. In 2017, 82% of children in Essex passed the phonics screening check, slightly above the national average. Schools in Essex are benefitting from funding to support school improvement in reading outcomes for boys in primary and secondary schools, and to improve the teaching of phonics in primary schools.The Department wants to build on these successes by supporting teachers to further raise standards for all children. We have announced that we will set up a new Centre of Excellence for Literacy Teaching and a national network of 35 English Hubs across the country. The exact locations of hubs will be decided in due course.

University Technical Colleges: Apprentices

Ian Austin: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to his Department's paper, SFR56/2017 published on 15 February 2018, what plans his Department has to increase the take-up of apprenticeships through university technical colleges; and if he will make a statement.

Anne Milton: The University Technical College (UTC) programme has an important role to play in our reforms to technical education, with strong UTCs succeeding in equipping young people with the skills businesses need, getting them into employment and supporting social mobility. During 2015/2016, 20% of students studying in Key Stage 5 at a UTC the previous year, progressed into apprenticeships, twice as high as for any other type of mainstream school or college. At Key Stage 4, 12% of pupils leaving UTCs progressed into apprenticeships, double the national average. We want to see this encouraging early performance continue. UTCs are set up to address a defined local skills gap and this early data on sustained destinations demonstrates that many UTCs are achieving their goal. We are taking a systematic approach to supporting the programme, including funding intensive support from local teaching schools and supporting UTCs with pupil recruitment. It is also crucial that employers take a sustained and embedded role in supporting the UTC programme. Employers are essential to UTCs’ marketing efforts, as they can demonstrate to pupils how attending the UTC can lead to a successful career. Employers are vital to ensuring that the curriculum design and delivery provides pupils with the skills that they need in their companies. Only by strong engagement from their employer sponsors can UTCs continue to prove successful in getting pupils into apprenticeships.

Carillion

Stephanie Peacock: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 6 February 2018 to Question 126280, whether it has been agreed that apprentices transferred from Carillion Training Services will be paid beyond the end of March.

Stephanie Peacock: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many of the apprentices transferred from Carillion Training Services have been found placements with (a) Government Departments and (b) other public sector employers.

Stephanie Peacock: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many and what proportion of apprentices transferred from Carillion Training Services to the Construction Industry Training Board have been placed with alternative employers.

Anne Milton: We have taken steps to protect learners by transferring the training of all Carillion apprentices to the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB). The CITB has already secured new employment and wages for many of the apprentices and is working to find alternative employers for the others. At present, all former Carillion apprentices will continue to be paid while alternative employers are being sought. The CITB have confirmed that to date, they have successfully placed four individuals in government departments and other public sector employers. Two of the affected apprentices have joined the Army with a further two apprentices now working for their local council. CITB has engaged directly with over 1,200 learners and secured new employment, with wages, for hundreds of apprentices. CITB are proactively working with their established network of college partners to support all affected apprentices and other learners to complete their programmes and have emailed 40,000 external contacts, the vast majority of those are employers, encouraging them to take on Carillion apprentices.

Children: Day Care

Angela Rayner: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the oral contribution from the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions of 13 March 2018, Official Report, column 767, what estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of providing childcare support in Northern Ireland similar to 30 hours of funded childcare in England; and what additional funding his Department plans to make available to provide new childcare services in Northern Ireland.

Nadhim Zahawi: Early education is a devolved matter for a restored Northern Ireland Executive.We have delivered a successful 30 hours policy for working parents in England, and are willing to engage and provide advice to the Northern Ireland parties and the Northern Ireland Civil Service based on our experience of developing and administering this policy in England. We have made no assessment of the cost of providing childcare, similar to 30 hours, in Northern Ireland as that would be a matter for the Northern Ireland Executive.

Students: Debts

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the average amount was of student debt that was (a) paid by and (b) outstanding for (i) 25 to 29-year-olds, (ii) 30 to 34-year-olds and (iii) 35 to 39-year-olds in each of the last eight years.

Mr Sam Gyimah: The information is not held centrally and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

Schools: Northumberland

Mike Kane: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions he has had with Northumberland County Council on that council's proposals to close 32 schools.

Nadhim Zahawi: Northumberland County Council is carrying out informal consultation to seek views on a number of proposed options for the reorganisation of education provision in the west of the county. None of the options described in the informal consultation document involves the closure of 32 schools. Whilst the department has no direct role in the decision making process for local authority maintained school reorganisation, including closure, officials are in regular contact with Northumberland County Council.

Schools: Admissions

Derek Twigg: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 16 March 2018 to Question 132253 on Schools: Admissions, whether he has plans to strengthen the provisions of the Schools Admissions Code in respect of siblings.

Nick Gibb: I refer the hon. Member for Halton to the answer I gave on 16 March 2018 to question 132253.

Schools: Collective Worship

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate his Department has made of the number and proportion of (a) maintained primary schools, (b) maintained secondary schools, (c) academies, (d) free schools and (e) sixth form colleges in England which have not fulfilled the legal requirement to organise a daily act of collective worship in each academic year since 2010-11.

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what research (a) his Department and (b) other public bodies have commissioned into the practices of schools in England in relation to acts of collective worship since 2010.

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many individual schools have been reported to his Department for non-compliance with the statutory requirement for an Act of Collective Worship in each academic year since 2010-2011.

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what his policy is for when his Department learns that a school is in breach of its statutory duties relating to acts of collective worship; and if he will make a statement.

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what powers he has to ensure schools comply with their statutory responsibilities.

Nick Gibb: All state-funded schools must provide a daily act of collective worship for all registered pupils up to the age of 18. For maintained schools this requirement is enshrined within legislation. For academies the requirement forms part of their funding agreement.The Department does not gather data on schools’ level of compliance with the requirement. Faith schools, however, are required to arrange a separate inspection of denominational religious education and collective worship, leading to published reports.Since 2010, the Department has not commissioned any research into Collective Worship practices. In November 2015, the Arts and Humanities Research Council published ‘Collective Worship and Religious Observance in Schools: an evaluation of law and policy in the UK’. The report can be found at: http://collectiveschoolworship.com/ . This report references a survey of 500 parents conducted on behalf of the BBC in 2011 in which 64 per cent of respondents reported that their children did not attend school worship. The Department is not aware of any formal complaints made to it about a school’s non-compliance with this requirement in the period since 2010-2011. If an individual is concerned that a school is not meeting its duty to provide an act of collective worship, they should follow that school’s complaint procedure in the first instance. If the complaint is not resolved, then the issue can be escalated to the Department’s School Complaints Unit for maintained schools, or the Education and Skills Funding Agency for academies, free schools, university technical colleges or studio schools. Information about the complaint procedures for schools can be found at: www.gov.uk/complain-about-school. The Secretary of State has a range of powers to ensure schools comply with their statutory obligations. The exact powers used will depend on the nature of the statutory duty in question and the potential impact of any failure to comply. The powers used could include a direction under 497 of the Education Act 1996, a performance and standards warning notice under the Education and Inspections Act 2006 and a referral to Ofsted for an inspection. Where academies are subject to the same statutory duties as maintained schools, the Secretary of State has powers to enforce compliance via the terms of the funding agreement.

Apprentices: East Midlands

Gloria De Piero: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many apprenticeships starts there were in the East Midlands; and what the level was of each of those starts in each of the last five years.

Anne Milton: These figures are published in our Further education and skills geography data tool: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/fe-data-library-further-education-and-skills. The number of apprenticeship starts in the East Midlands in the last five years, split by level are in the public domain and are as follows: Apprenticeship level2012/132013/142014/152015/162016/17Intermediate (Level 2)28,50026,77029,88028,51026,160Advanced (Level 3)19,61012,73016,37017,28018,270Higher (Level 4+)8907901,8102,2803,110All apprenticeship starts49,01040,29048,06048,08047,540Figures rounded to the nearest 10

Schools: Private Education

Tulip Siddiq: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many and what proportion of state-funded pupils benefited from a partnership between an independent school and a state-funded school in (a) 2016 and (b) 2017.

Anne Milton: The department has consulted on the relationships between independent and state funded schools, and will be responding in due course. The Independent Schools Councils runs an annual census of its member schools which can be found at: https://www.isc.co.uk/research/annual-census/. The Census and Annual Report Snapshot for 2017 is attached.



Census Snapshot
(PDF Document, 559.91 KB)

King's College London: Freedom of Expression

Ian Austin: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether the Government has made an assessment of the implications for its policy of restrictions imposed by King's College London on the freedom of speech of Israeli speakers on its campus following disruption by violent students.

Mr Sam Gyimah: The government is committed to free speech within the law – this does not include hate speech, incitement to violence or terrorism. Free speech is protected in universities by law (under the Education (no 2) Act 1986) and plays a crucial role in generating rigorous debate, advancing understanding and allowing students to challenge conventional wisdom and discuss controversial subjects. We would expect universities to take appropriate action against violent incidents or against threats to speaker events, involving law enforcement if necessary. We would be very concerned if a university restricted an individual’s freedom of speech within the law due to concerns about reaction.

Ministry of Justice

Interserve

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what employment services are provided by Interserve in prisons; in which prisons that company provides such services; and what the value is of each of those contracts.

Rory Stewart: Interserve have a contract with the Ministry of Justice operating through the HM Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) for the management, sourcing and delivery of 90-100 employment positions for prisoners within Workshops at HMP Berwyn. Interserve’s service solution provides a 50-place contact centre and 45-place textile remanufacturing workshop. Access to high quality education and employment opportunities are an important part of our prison reform agenda and aimed at reducing re-offending. The contract duration is 5 months and the value is £235,767.

Prisons: Computers and Telephones

Richard Burgon: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether he plans to roll-out the programme relating to the installation of telephones and basic computers in prison cells as a result of the conclusion of the pilot for that programme.

Rory Stewart: The Ministry of Justice introduced telephones and basic computers into prison cells in two prisons: HMP Wayland and HMP Berwyn. HMP Berwyn already featured both capabilities when it opened on 27th February 2017. Telephones were introduced into HMP Wayland in December 2016 and computers in January 2017.The purpose is for prisoners to manage some of their own day-to-day tasks that would normally be managed by officers on paper, freeing up officers to focus their time on the important task of reforming offenders.All in-cell phones are limited to a number of preapproved phone numbers with robust restrictions in place. Prisoners are not given access to the internet.The pilot is still running in both prisons. We are monitoring and evaluating the benefits to assess the impact on prisoner safety and rehabilitation, and on officers’ ability to do their jobs more effectively.Ministers will want to see evidence that putting telephones and basic computers in prison cells has tangible benefits before making any decisions on rolling out further.

Prisoners: Compensation

Richard Burgon: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how much money was paid in compensation to prisoners in December 2017.

Rory Stewart: The total compensation paid out to prisoners in the month of December 2017 was £249,629. The figure has been extracted from our compensation return forms and may be subject to adjustments when the 2017-18 final accounts are audited after the end of the financial year. We robustly defend all claims and are successful in two thirds of cases brought against us by prisoners. We are determined to do all we can to bring down the cost of compensation to the taxpayer, and are working to reduce costs.

Prison Officers: Training

Richard Burgon: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, which companies were contracted by his Department to provide training for prison staff in 2017; and how much his Department paid to each of those companies for such training.

Rory Stewart: Training across HMPPS and the prison estate is requested and supplied on a bespoke basis and tendered accordingly with providersSpend figures for Learning and Development (L&D) across the Prison Estate are presented as a singular amount. The cost data cannot be split out from total L&D into Prison Staff L&D only. To provide the information requested, the Ministry of Justice would need to manually check each requisition submitted in 2017 to identify the type of training provided and the cost. The information requested could therefore only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

Social security benefits: Appeals

Richard Burgon: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people won an appeal against the withdrawal of their (a) disability living allowance and (b) personal independence payment at a tribunal in 2017.

Richard Burgon: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 9 March 2018 to Question 130495 on Disability Living Allowance: Appeals, for what reason data on the number of people who win an appeal against the withdrawal of their disability living allowance is not centrally held.

Lucy Frazer: Information on how many people won an appeal against the withdrawal of their (a) disability living allowance and (b) personal independence payment at a tribunal in 2017 is not held centrally.HM Courts & Tribunals Service (HMCTS) collects data on various types of issue that may be disputed in an appeal before the First-tier Tribunal (Social Security and Child Support) (SSCS). These include entitlement to, or rate of payment of, a particular benefit. However, the issue specified in Question 130495 (and 132503) - “withdrawal” of disability living allowance or personal independence payment - is not included in the list of categories recorded. HMCTS does not, therefore, hold the information requested. Information about the volumes and outcomes of appeals to the SSCS tribunal is published at: www.gov.uk/government/collections/tribunals-statistics.The latest statistics, for the period October to December 2017, published on 8 March, can be viewed at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/tribunals-and-gender-recognition-certificate-statistics-quarterly-october-to-december-2017.

Ministry of Justice: Public Expenditure

Richard Burgon: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 16 November 2017 to Question 112641 on Ministry of Justice: Finance, what the projected change of his Department's budget for legal aid in real terms is in each year to 2020.

Lucy Frazer: The Legal Aid Agency’s 2010/11 to 2016/2017 budgeting measure of Resource Departmental Expenditure Limit in real terms is publicly available: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/legal-aid-statistics-july-to-september-2017. Departmental level funding from HM Treasury up until 2019/20 was reported at the Spending Review, 2015, and subsequently updated at the Autumn Statement, 2016. Future years’ budget allocations within the department have not yet been confirmed and therefore it is not currently possible to provide a breakdown of this funding by business area. Legal aid is demand-led and the conditions for its availability are laid down in legislation, meaning the amount of the department’s budget allocated will depend upon that level of demand. MoJ will shortly be laying its Main Estimate in Parliament, which will provide further detail on our financial plans for the year 2018-19.

Ministry of Justice: Public Expenditure

Richard Burgon: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 16 November 2017 to Question 112641 on Ministry of Justice: Finance, what is the projected change of his Department's budget for prisons in real terms is in each year to 2020.

Rory Stewart: The Ministry of Justice’s funding from HM Treasury was reported at Spending Review 2015 to fall by 15% between 2015-16 and 2019-20. Taking into account additional resource funding agreed at the Autumn Statement 2016 for prison safety and wider reform, MoJ’s funding in real terms will reduce by 11% between 2015-16 and 2019-20. Future years’ budget allocations have not yet been confirmed and therefore it is not currently possible to provide a breakdown of this reduction by individual areas. MoJ will shortly be laying its Main Estimate in Parliament, which will provide further detail on our financial plans for the year 2018-19. Budgets are subject to in year movement and organisational restructure. These are not comparable across the long term due to changes in accounting treatments and scope of business which do not provide a consistent basis. Therefore we have used the direct outturn costs for prisons for previous financial years. Information on actual direct prison expenditure for previous financial years are published and can be accessed in the Prison and Probation Performance Statistics pages for each financial year on the www.gov.uk website. This is set out in a summary table below, showing the direct published costs (nominal), the figures adjusted for GDP deflator (real terms) and the annual and cumulative percentage changes. The GDP figures are consistent with the OBR Spring Statement data as at 13 March 2018. The figures from financial years 2010-11 to 2014-15 have been restated following the original publication to enable a more fair comparison between that and the preceding year. The 2017-18 figures are taken from the budget for the year as expenditure has not yet been finalised or published.  Financial YearsPrison Budget (£m)   2017-181,950Financial YearsPrison Expenditure, nominal (£m)Prison Expenditure restated (£m)Annual Change % 2016-171,9441,944- 2015-161,8981,9400% 2014/151,9081,964-1% 2013/142,0592,149-9% 2012/132,1962,332-8% 2011/122,2102,395-3% 2010/112,2192,439-2%

Ministry of Justice: Public Expenditure

Richard Burgon: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 16 November 2017 to Question Ministry of Justice: Finance, what is the projected change of his Department's budget for probation in real terms is in each year to 2020.

Rory Stewart: The Ministry of Justice’s funding from HM Treasury was reported at Spending Review 2015 to fall by 15% between 2015/16 and 2019/20. Taking into account additional resource funding agreed at the Autumn Statement 2016 for prison safety and wider reform, MoJ’s funding in real terms will reduce by 11% between 2015/16 and 2019/20. MoJ will shortly be laying its Main Estimate in Parliament, which will provide further detail on our financial plans for the year 2018-19. Budgets are subject to in year movement and organisational restructure. These are not comparable across the long term due to changes in accounting treatments and scope of business which do not provide a consistent basis. Therefore we have used the actual outturn costs for previous years for probation services, and the expenditure includes probation boards/trusts prior to 2014-15 and National Probation Services/CRC’s from 2014-15 to 2016-17. The probation services spend is set out in a summary table below, showing the outturn costs (nominal), the figures adjusted for GDP deflator (real terms). The GDP figures are consistent with the OBR Spring Statement data as at 13 March 2018. The 2017-18 probation figures are taken from the budget for the year as expenditure has not yet been finalised. Financial Years (£m)   2017-18878Financial YearsProbation Expenditure, nominal (£m)Probation Expenditure Real (£m)2016-178508502015-169699902014/158528772013/148058402012/138148642011/128218902010/11875962

Ministry of Justice: Public Expenditure

Richard Burgon: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 16 November 2017 to Question Ministry of Justice: Finance, what the projected change of his Department's budget for courts in real terms is in each year to 2020.

Lucy Frazer: The Ministry of Justice’s funding from HM Treasury was reported at Spending Review 2015 to fall by 15% between 2015-16 and 2019-20. Taking into account additional resource funding agreed at the Autumn Statement 2016 for prison safety and wider reform, MoJ’s funding in real terms will reduce by 11% between 2015-16 and 2019-20. Future years’ budget allocations have not yet been confirmed and therefore it is not currently possible to provide a breakdown of this reduction by business area. MoJ will shortly be laying its Main Estimate in Parliament, which will provide further detail on our financial plans for the year 2018-19. The table below shows the annual change in HMCTS’s funding from HM Treasury in real terms to 2017/18. 2010/11*11/1212/1313/1414/1515/1616/1717/18 Total Resource DEL * 1,719,1321,790,5301,657,6121,632,8751,602,5591,502,9601,580,424 Total Resource DEL (restated in 2017/18 prices) 1,919,3381,927,2621,742,3761,681,4831,631,5021,523,2491,580,424 Annual real terms increase/(decrease)  0.4%-9.6%-3.5%-3.0%-6.6%3.8% *2010/11 numbers excluded as HMCTS in its current form was only created when the Courts Service (HMCS) and Tribunal Service (HMTS) merged in 2011/12

Ministry of Justice: Public Opinion

Richard Burgon: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how much his Department spent on opinion polling in December 2017.

Dr Phillip Lee: Information about how much money the Ministry of Justice has spent on all polling group activity is not collected. It is not possible to extrapolate polling spend from the wider spend on social research or communications and marketing research.

Poaching

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people were (a) proceeded against and (b) convicted of offences under the (i) Game Act 1831, (ii) Poaching Prevention Act 1862 and (iii) the Night Poaching Acts 1828 and 1844 in each of the last three years.

Lucy Frazer: The Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs are responsible for the policy and legislation on gaming and poaching. For the period 2014-2016, the number of defendants proceeded against at magistrates’ courts and found guilty at all courts for offences related to the above legislation, broken down by the specific legislation, in England and Wales, can be viewed in the table below.Defendants proceeded against at magistrates’ courts and found guilty at all courts of offences under selected legislation, England and Wales, 2014 to 2016 (1)(2) Legislation 201420152016 Game Act 1831Proceeded against222134128Found guilty1477575Night Poaching Act 1828Proceeded against814142Found guilty563136Night Poaching Act 1844Proceeded against---Found guilty---Poaching Prevention Act 1862Proceeded against1018Found guilty8-4 '-' = Nil (1) The figures given in the table relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offences for which they were dealt with. When a defendant has been found guilty of two or more offences it is the offence for which the heaviest penalty is imposed. Where the same disposal is imposed for two or more offences, the offence selected is the offence for which the statutory maximum penalty is the most severe. (2) Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used. Source: Justice Statistics Analytical Services - Ministry of Justice.   Court proceedings data for 2017 is planned for publication in May 2018.

Offenders: Foreign Nationals

Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to monitor foreign national offenders who are subject to multi-agency public protection arrangements; and if he will set out the number of foreign national offenders who are subject to multi-agency public protection arrangements in each police area.

Rory Stewart: Guidance on the management of foreign national offenders subject to MAPPA is contained in the MAPPA Guidance available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/multi-agency-public-protection-arrangements-mappa--2. The number of foreign national offenders who are subject to multi-agency public protection arrangements in each police area could only be obtained at disproportionate cost. This is because the information is held locally by individual lead agencies within the 42 MAPPA areas and is not collated centrally.

Offenders: Foreign Nationals

Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many foreign national offenders have been convicted of multiple offences in the UK.

Rory Stewart: Any foreign national who comes to our country and abuses our hospitality by breaking the law should be in no doubt of our determination to deport them. More than 40,000 Foreign National Offenders have been removed from the UK since 2010, and in the last financial year a record number of over 6,300 were removed.The Ministry of Justice, HMPPS, and HMCTS do not hold the information requested in the PQ. Home Office have confirmed that as ‘Nationality’ is not a mandatory field on the Police National Computer (PNC) the Home Office cannot provide the information requested in the PQ.

Ministry of Justice: Amey

Richard Burgon: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 9 March 2018 to Question 130494 on Ministry of Justice: Amey, what the evidential basis is for private contractors achieving the majority of their contractual targets.

Rory Stewart: Holding answer received on 21 March 2018



Private providers performance is closely monitored by the Ministry of Justice and we will not hesitate to act where standards fall short.Department’s contracts typically contain termination provisions where a provider’s performance falls below a minimum acceptable level. The minimum acceptable level for a contract is typically set at far greater than 50%, therefore should the provider not achieve the majority of their contractual targets then the Department can terminate the contract.The basis of the assessment that Amey has achieved the majority of their contractual targets is because their contract contains a termination provision where if their performance falls below a minimum acceptable level the department would terminate the contract.

Ministry of Justice: Temporary Employment

Richard Burgon: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the average hourly rate paid by his Department for agency staff is by grade.

Richard Burgon: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the average hourly rate paid by his Department for an agency probation officer is.

Rory Stewart: The rates for agency staff differ across contracts due to variable such as location, number of hours, experience. Some contracts have rate cards which include Target and Max rates per day/per role, other rates vary due to length of services and Agency Worker Right. Other factors also can adjust the rates paid such has how the worker is engaged e.g. PAYE or as a Ltd Company.Information on average hourly rate could only be provided at a disproportionate cost.

Prisons: Computers and Telephones

Richard Burgon: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 15 March 2018 to Question 132158, on Prisons: Computers and Telephones, whether there were any prisons in which the pilot was started but ended before its scheduled completion.

Richard Burgon: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 15 March 2018 to Question 132158, on Prisons: Computers and Telephones, whether there were any prisons in which work was undertaken in preparation for the pilot but the full pilot was not commenced.

Rory Stewart: We are piloting in-cell telephony and basic computers in two prisons – HMP Wayland and HMP Berwyn. The purpose is for prisoners to manage some of their own day-to-day tasks that would normally be managed by officers on paper, freeing up officers to focus their time on the important task of reforming offenders. The pilot is still running in both prisons. We are monitoring and evaluating the benefits to assess the impact on prisoner safety and rehabilitation, and on officers’ ability to do their jobs more effectively. Work has also been undertaken in preparation for piloting digital capabilities in a number of other sites, detail of which are below. HMP Durham, HMP Wandsworth, HMP Holme House, HMP High Down, HMP Kirklevington Grange, YOI Cookham Wood, HMP Eastwood Park, HMP Moorland, HMP Chelmsford, HMP Exeter, HMP Liverpool, HMP Leeds, HMP Bristol, HMP Swaleside, HMP Aylesbury, HMP Manchester and HMP Guys Marsh.

New Hall Prison

Mary Creagh: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many women in HMP New Hall gave birth while imprisoned in 2017.

Dr Phillip Lee: The information requested is not held centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost. To provide this information, a manual search of the record of every female prisoner held at New Hall during 2017 would be required. We currently do not record the number of women who give birth in prisons centrally but consideration will be given on recording this information locally on prison systems.

New Hall Prison

Mary Creagh: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many pregnant women at HMP New Hall were given a place in a mother and baby unit in 2017.

Dr Phillip Lee: Data relating to Mother and Baby Unit (MBU) applications is published annually and the latest published data available is for 2016/17 (at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/annual-national-offender-management-service-digest-2016-to-2017). In 2016/17, 15 applications for a place on an MBU were approved by the MBU Admission Board at New Hall and 13 women were received into the unit there during that time. This would include women who were pregnant and women who had a child under 18 months. National data for 2017/18 will be published in the HMPPS Annual Digest on 26 July 2018. Not all women whose applications are approved at New Hall will immediately take up a place on the unit. Some may take a place nearer, or after, giving birth, some may subsequently decide not to take up their place and some may move to an MBU at another establishment.

New Hall Prison

Mary Creagh: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many women in HMP New Hall who had babies or infants resident with them in prison had those children taken away from them in 2017.

Dr Phillip Lee: During 2016/17 (the year for which the most recent published data is available), 3 women returned to the general prison population at New Hall following a separation from their baby or babies. Women in Mother and Baby Units (MBUs) may be separated from their children for a number of reasons. The most common would be the child reaching an age where it would be in its best interests to live outside of the prison environment, but there will also be cases where the mother decides that she wishes to hand out the child to family or friends or where the mother’s prison behaviour mean that separation would be in the best interests of the child.

Treasury

Motor Vehicles: Excise Duties

Chris Elmore: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make an assessment of the higher charges applied to rates of vehicle tax when paid biannually as opposed to annually on the ability of people on lower incomes to afford that tax.

Robert Jenrick: It is a long-standing feature of the Vehicle Excise Duty (VED) system that rates for biannual and monthly payments are higher than annual VED. The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) are currently engaged in a programme of large scale technical change to move their services on to new technical platforms. As part of this work, HM Treasury and the DVLA are committed to reviewing the current administration of vehicle tax, including these surcharges. In the meantime, DVLA does offer a monthly direct debit, which also helps affordability for people who are cash-constrained.

Investment

Daniel Zeichner: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment his Department has made of trends in the level of (a) private and (b) public investment in the economy in each year since 2000; and how that investment compares with other G8 countries.

John Glen: Private investment (business investment) in the UK has increased by 16.5% since Q1 2000. General government investment in the UK has increased by 140.3% since Q1 2000. Out of the G8, the UK experienced one of the largest declines in gross fixed capital formation (whole economy investment) following the financial crisis. However, the UK’s growth since the recession was among the fastest out of the G8. The Government has taken steps to increase the levels of both private and public investment by creating a stable and competitive tax system and initiatives like the National Productivity Investment Fund, which was increased to over £31bn at Autumn Budget 2017.

Revenue and Customs: Computer Software

Jon Trickett: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what proportion of HMRC's (a) transactions and (b) transaction value came through application programming interfaces in each of the last 12 months.

Mel Stride: During 2016/17 HMRC processed 2.3bn transactions, 95% of which were digital. Where Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) were available as an option they made up 80% of service transactions. APIs currently account for about 12% of all digital transactions. HMRC is currently unable to supply the transaction value that came through APIs. This is because a significant number of internal API transactions using the API platform do not have a monetary transaction value e.g. API transactions supporting customer service voice biometrics.

Treasury: Cleaning Services

Catherine West: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what information he holds on the rate of remuneration for cleaners in his Department.

Mel Stride: The cleaning service at HM Treasury is provided through a service contract, administered by the landlord for 1 Horse Guards Road (Exchequer Partnership). HM Treasury does not hold information on remuneration for cleaners.

Revenue and Customs: Telephone Services

Jon Trickett: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the average waiting time on HM Revenue and Custom's phone lines in each of the last 12 months.

Mel Stride: HM Revenue and Customs publishes its average waiting time (Average Speed of Answer - ASA) performance data on a monthly and quarterly basis on GOV.UK.https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/hmrc-monthly-performance-reportshttps://www.gov.uk/government/collections/hmrc-quarterly-performance-updates

Revenue and Customs: Internet

Jon Trickett: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many web chats HM Revenue and Customs have had with service users in each of the last 12 months.

Mel Stride: The information requested is given below: Answered Webchats Mar 2017 to Feb 2018 Mar-17Apr-17May-17Jun-17Jul-17Aug-17200,129158,75776,519123,781158,190139,281Sep-17Oct-17Nov-17Dec-17Jan-18Feb-18140,034136,29097,38585,017162,306101,605

Children: Day Care

Stephanie Peacock: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of tax-free childcare in each of the next five years.

Elizabeth Truss: The forecast expenditure on Tax-Free Childcare was published by the Office for Budget Responsibility in March 2018 at http://cdn.obr.uk/EFO-MaRch_2018.pdf

Children: Day Care

Stephanie Peacock: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 29 January 2018 to Question 124793, on Children: Day Care, whether he has revised his forecast of expected take-up of tax-free childcare since last year.

Elizabeth Truss: I refer the honourable member to the answer I gave on 22 March 2018 (133037).

Child Care Vouchers

Angela Rayner: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the oral contribution of the Secretary of State for Education of 13 March 2018, Official Report, Column 802, what steps he plans to take during the six month extension to the childcare voucher scheme to address the concerns raised in that debate.

Elizabeth Truss: I refer the Honourable Member to the answer I gave on 16th March 2018 to her earlier question (133041).

High Net Worth Unit

Anneliese Dodds: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many staff are  employed within HMRC’s High Net Worth Unit.

Mel Stride: I refer the Hon Member to my previous answer, Hansard Reference 110432.

Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government

Wind Power: Planning Permission

Alex Sobel: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to the Written Statement of 18 June 2015, HCWS42, on local planning, whether the Government plans to remove those additional planning conditions which apply on onshore wind projects in England.

Dominic Raab: The written ministerial statement of 18 June 2015 HCWS42 on Local Planning, has been incorporated into the draft revised National Planning Policy Framework which was published on 5 March 2018. Consultation on this and other revisions to the Framework is underway, closing on 10 May 2018 (https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/draft-revised-national-planning-policy-framework).The Government will consider all responses and publish the revised Framework in the summer.

Housing: Finance

Alex Sobel: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, for what reasons his Department returned £817m of housing funding to HM Treasury; and if he will make a statement.

Dominic Raab: Holding answer received on 16 March 2018



In line with standard practice where funding cannot be spent, within a financial year, it is returned to the Treasury. This is part of good budget management within the Department, and in line with established processes. Underspends are not unusual. For comparison, in 2009-10, the Department underspent by £504 million in total.Overall, funding for housing has been substantially increased, with an additional £15.3 billion of investment in housing over the next 5 years. This includes an extra £2 billion for Affordable Housing, taking the programme to £9 billion. In 2017/18, we have also invested an additional £1.5 billion in our Help to Buy scheme, supporting thousands of first time buyers to move into their first home. We will be investing over £10 billion in that programme in the next 3 years.

Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government: Environmental Impact Assessment

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how many environmental impact assessments his Department has made in each of the last two financial years.

Dominic Raab: Responsibility for the various stages of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) process usually falls with the applicant or the local planning authority. However, the Secretary of State can either choose or be called upon to make a screening direction, which determines whether or not a certain development can be considered ‘EIA development’ and therefore subject to the EIA process.Planning is a devolved issue and so the following figures relate to England only:2015/16 – 78 screening directions were made, 13 determining that the development was EIA.2016/17 – 60 screening directions made, 16 determining that the development was EIA.

Gypsies: Caravan Sites

Kate Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether the Housing Delivery Test results which each local authority in England will be required to publish under the National Planning Policy Framework will include specific data on the number of Gypsy sites.

Dominic Raab: The Housing Delivery Test results will be published by the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government each November and will include the delivery of all types of housing (including Gypsy and Travellers accommodation).

Right to Buy Scheme

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what right to buy receipts each local authority has paid to HM Treasury in each financial year since 2012-13.

Dominic Raab: Holding answer received on 19 March 2018



The Department does not publish this information. It very quickly falls out of date, because, for operational reasons, the 167 local authorities that have made relevant sales since 2012 have to estimate the amounts due which are then made more accurate as a result of periodic review and reconciliation exercises.

Garden Communities: North Essex

Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, on what date will planning applications be accepted for the proposed North Essex Garden Communities; and what role will his Department play in the process.

Dominic Raab: Planning applications can be submitted to relevant local authorities at any time. The decision by a local authority must be taken in accordance with the development plan unless there are material considerations that indicate otherwise.The Secretary of State would not routinely play a role in the decision making of a local authority, but does have the power to call-in an application for his own decision. This is subject to the criteria that the application conflicts with the national policy in important matters, or is nationally significant.

Garden Communities: North Essex

Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what funds his Department has provided for the North Essex Garden Communities scheme; and what limits his Department has placed on the expenditure of those funds.

Dominic Raab: Across England we are already supporting twenty-four locally-led garden cities, towns and villages to be exemplars of quality, design and best practice. All told, they have the potential to deliver up to 220,000 homes across England. This includes the North Essex Garden Communities.To date, we have provided capacity funding totalling £2.023 million to North Essex Garden Communities via our Garden Towns and Villages programme. This will enable dedicated staff to be employed and sustainable housing growth and infrastructure to be planned for, raising the bar on quality and design and leaving a legacy for future generations to be proud of.It is for the local authorities to ensure that funding received is spent in line with any grant conditions. Homes England continue to provide delivery expertise to local areas, ensuring that capacity funding is best able to unlock delivery of homes.

Garden Communities

Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to encourage and support private sector investment in proposed garden settlements.

Dominic Raab: Across England we are already supporting twenty-four locally-led garden cities, towns and villages to be exemplars of quality, design and best practice. All told, they have the potential to deliver up to 220,000 homes across England.Autumn Budget 2017 announced that we will extend this support to deliver five new garden towns that will seek to bring together public and private capital. This recognises the importance of private sector investment to deliver new garden settlements.To help achieve this ambition, we are introducing legislation to enable locally accountable New Town Development Corporations to be created as a key instrument of delivery. We expect such operational independence to be attractive to private sector investment to get on with the job of delivering any new garden settlement.

Electric Vehicles: Charging Points

James Frith: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to ensure that charging infrastructure for plug-in electric cars is included in new housing developments.

Dominic Raab: The Government’s Industrial Strategy, published in November 2017, sets out the ways in which the Government is supporting electric vehicle charging infrastructure. The strategy includes a commitment to update Building Regulations to mandate that all new residential developments must contain the enabling cabling for charge-points in the home, taking account of the independent review of Building Regulations and fire safety being undertaken by Dame Judith Hackitt.

Planning

Ian Lavery: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how many core planning strategy documents have been withdrawn by local authorities in each of the last eight years.

Dominic Raab: Since 2010, 34 local plans have been withdrawn by local authorities from examination.

Local Plans

Ian Lavery: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what the average cost is of developing a local plan for a county council.

Dominic Raab: Plan preparation is a matter for local authorities and information on costs is not collected centrally.

Local Plans

Ian Lavery: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what the average cost has been for the development of neighbourhood plans by town and parish councils in each of the last three years.

Dominic Raab: The Government does not hold this data. Research on a sample of early plans carried out by the Department in 2014 showed the costs of producing neighbourhood plans ranged from £4,000 to just under £30,000 for more complex plans, with the average being under £15,000. Case studies of the cost of neighbourhood plans can be found at: https://mycommunity.org.uk/?s=total+spend The Government’s new £23 million support programme for neighbourhood planning (2018-2022) will provide resources and expertise to enable communities to plan for the future of their areas.

Roads: Construction

Caroline Flint: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if he will grant powers to local councils to set deadlines for the completion of roads in new developments.

Dominic Raab: It is right that developers are required to mitigate the impacts of development, and pay for the cumulative impacts of development on the infrastructure in their area.Section 106 planning obligations (s278 in the case of highway requirements) are negotiated legal agreements between developers and local authorities. They are used to make development acceptable through delivery of affordable housing or infrastructure, or requiring development to be used in a particular way, and can be used to specify at what point in the development the infrastructure must be completed.The planning reform package, which includes the revised draft National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) and the reforms to developer contributions, are fundamental to delivering the homes we need and set out a comprehensive approach to ensure that we get the right homes built in the right places of the right quality.The reforms to developer contributions could provide a springboard for going further, and the Government will continue to explore options to create a clearer and more robust developer contribution system that really delivers for prospective homeowners and communities accommodating new development.

Housing: Planning Permission

Caroline Flint: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if he will bring forward legislative proposals to give local authorities the power to impose completion targets as a condition when granting planning consents for housing.

Dominic Raab: The Government is clear that where sites have planning permission they should move ahead as quickly as possible. Over 1 million homes have been delivered since 2010, but we are taking forward a range of reforms to build even more homes more swiftly, including under the revised National Planning Policy Framework, and proposals to reform developer contributions, that were published on 5 March 2018.Alongside the current reforms, my right hon friend the Member for West Dorset (Sir Oliver Letwin), is leading a review to understand the main causes of the gap between housing completions and the amount of land allocated or granted permission in areas of high demand, which is due to report in time for the Budget 2018. A letter from Sir Oliver on the progress of his review into build out of planning permissions into homes was published on 13 March 2018.

High Rise Flats: Fire Prevention

Mr Steve Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to his oral statement of 15 March 2018, Official Report, column 1018, on Building Safety, how many different fire doors his Department is testing.

Mr Steve Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to his oral Statement of 15 March 2018, Official Report, column 1018 on Building Safety, whether he plans to publish the results of the fire door safety tests.

Dominic Raab: Holding answer received on 21 March 2018



The first door was tested by the Metropolitan Police as part of their investigation. So far two additional doors have been tested by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. The Expert Panel has commissioned additional testing and inspections of fire doors from the same batch of doors installed at Grenfell and a sample of other doors as part of its investigation. The number of fire doors to be tested will be decided as the investigation proceeds.I have committed to updating the House when further information is available, and no later than the end of April 2018.

Owner Occupation

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what estimate he has made of the level of home ownership among (a) 20 to 24-year-olds, (b) 25 to 29-year-olds, (c) 30 to 34-year-olds and (d) 35 to 39-year-olds in each of the last eight years.

Dominic Raab: The Department's English Housing Survey collects information on the age of home owners in England.See AT1.4 here: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/676433/2016-17_Section_1_Households_Annex_Tables.xlsx for data from 2003-04 to 2016-17 (the latest year for which data are available).

Housing: Conferences

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how many staff from (a) his Department and (b) Homes England attended MIPIM international property conference 2018; and what estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of their attending that event.

Mrs Heather Wheeler: Four members of staff from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) and eleven from Homes England attended MIPIM as part of a wider UK Government delegation led by the Department for International Trade. MHCLG contributed £50,000 to the DIT led HMG presence, and spent approximately £2,789.44 on staff transport, accommodation and subsistence. The cost to Homes England was £45,898.20.MIPIM is attended by most cities and combined authorities in the UK, including Greater Manchester, Sheffield City Region, the Midlands, London, and Leeds City Region, all of whom had stands at the event and sent senior delegates. The conference therefore presents an opportunity for Government to engage with these local and combined authority leaders, and to support them in promoting the opportunities that exist within regeneration and infrastructure projects in their areas to global investors. The property sector has a crucial role to play in many of the UK Government’s and MHCLG’s priorities, including delivering new homes and communities and upgrading vital infrastructure. The UK remains a hugely attractive place to invest for the global property community and we are putting in place the policies needed to support domestic and international investment.The Right Honourable member may remember from his time in the Department that it is common practice for officials to attend MIPIM events.

Grenfell Tower: Fires

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how many households in (a) Barandon Walk, (b) Testerton Walk, (c) Hurstway Walk, (d) Treadgold House and (e) Bramley House require rehousing as a result of the Grenfell Tower fire; and how many of those households have been rehoused in (i) emergency accommodation, (ii) temporary accommodation and (iii) permanent accommodation.

Dominic Raab: The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Supported Housing: Finance

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to the consultation on Funding for supported housing, published on 31 October 2017, when he plans to publish his Department's final proposals.

Mrs Heather Wheeler: The consultations on the short-term accommodation grant and sheltered housing model closed on Tuesday 23 January 2018.We are now analysing the responses received and the Government will provide a full response in the early summer of 2018. In the meantime we will continue to work with providers and local government on the details of the proposed funding models

Housing Revenue Accounts

Heidi Allen: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, when his Department plans to publish the (a) details of what constitutes high affordability and (b) criteria used in determining how support will be allocated under the Housing Revenue Account borrowing cap announced in Autumn Budget 2017.

Dominic Raab: At Autumn Budget, the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced that we will raise the Housing Revenue Account borrowing cap by a total of up to £1 billion in areas of high affordability pressure, for local authorities that are ready to start building new homes. Local authorities will be able to bid for increases in their caps from 2019/20, up to a total of £1 billion by the end of 2021/22. We will set out more details shortly.

Right to Buy Scheme

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 19 March 2018 to Question 132534, how much money councils have returned to the Treasury in right to buy receipts in each year since 2012.

Dominic Raab: The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Right to Buy Scheme

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 19 March 2018 to Question 132534, how much money councils have returned to the Treasury in right to buy receipts in each year since 2012 by local authority.

Dominic Raab: The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government: Public Expenditure

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 19 March 2018 to Question 132701, on finance, how the Government defines the term additional flexibility in this context; and what estimate his Department has made of the funding available via additional flexibility.

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 19 March to Question 132701, on finance, what the sources of income referred to in the Answer are.

Jake Berry: Like all government departments, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government can keep some of the income we generate – for example, sub-letting our estate, planning fees or interest paid on loans. We can now use more of this income to support our activities. The amount of income the Department may retain is requested through the Parliamentary supply process; the figures for 2018-19 will be included as usual in the Department’s Main Estimate.

Grenfell Tower: Fires

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 14 March 2018 to Question 131688, which local authorities have rehoused the 64 households located outside the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea.

Dominic Raab: The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Ministry of Defence

Army: Recruitment

Liz Saville Roberts: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 27 February 2018 to Question 127990, on Army: Recruitment, whether drop-out rates for soldiers in basic training  were included in the calculations for the average career length for each of those groups.

Mark Lancaster: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 27 February 2018 to Question 127990 which explained that the figures provided excluded "any soldiers who do not complete Initial Trade Training".



127900 - WQnA extract on Army Recruitment
(Word Document, 22.08 KB)

Unmanned Air Vehicles

Nia Griffith: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what recent progress has been made on the Future Combat Air System; and if he will make a statement.

Guto Bebb: The Future Combat Air System Technology Initiative was announced as part of the 2015 Strategic Defence and Security Review and consists of three core strands of activity on developing Combat Air technologies: international projects, including our work with France; national projects; and an open mission system architecture project. We are working closely with UK Industry teams, who are on contract to develop key technologies for any future system. We are in discussion with industry and international partners to inform the Combat Air Strategy being developed following the announcement by the Secretary of State for Defence on 21 February 2018.

Armed Forces: Vehicles

Nia Griffith: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many left-hand drive vehicles the Armed Forces have; what those vehicles are; and how many of those vehicles are being used in the UK.

Guto Bebb: This information is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Members: Correspondence

Nia Griffith: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, when he plans to respond to the letter from the hon. Member for Llanelli dated 6 February 2018 on his Department's Better Defence Estate strategy.

Gavin Williamson: I responded to the hon. Member on 15 March.

Defence: Modernisation

Mr Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, when he plans to report on progress with the Modernising Defence Programme.

Gavin Williamson: I am pleased to say that the Modernising Defence Programme is under way and progressing across all four workstreams. I will give colleagues a more substantial update when I am in a position to do so.

Armed Forces: Training

Nia Griffith: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many (a) Estonian, (b) Lithuanian, (c) Latvian, (d) Polish and (f) Ukrainian nationals received training at (i) the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, (ii) RAF Cranwell and (iii) Britannia Royal Naval Academy in each year between 2010 and 2018.

Mark Lancaster: The number of personnel from the countries listed who have attended Initial Officer Training between financial years 2010-11 and 2017-18 is as follows:  RAF Initial Officer Training: RAF CranwellCountry2010-112011-122012-132013-142014-152015-162016-172017-18Estonia00000000Lithuania00000000Latvia00000000Poland00000000Ukraine00003322 Army Initial Officer Training: RMA SandhurstCountry2010-112011-122012-132013-142014-152015-162016-172017-18Estonia00000000Lithuania00000000Latvia00000000Poland00000000Ukraine00000233 Royal Navy Initial Officer Training: Britannia Royal Naval College Country2010-112011-122012-132013-142014-152015-162016-172017-18Estonia10000000Lithuania00000000Latvia00000000Poland00000000Ukraine00003221

Ministry of Defence: LIBOR

Gerald Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the oral contribution of the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Defence of 5 March 2018, Official Report, column 12, when his Department plans to write to the hon. Member for Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney on its definition of a core activity and an additional facility.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: I wrote to the hon. Member on 19 March.

Armoured Fighting Vehicles

Gerald Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 16 March 2018 to Question 131619, on armoured fighting vehicles, which eight organisations returned questionnaires.

Guto Bebb: The eight organisations that returned questionnaires for the Mechanised Infantry Vehicle requirement are: ARTEC, BAES, FNSS, General Dynamics, Nexter, Patria, ST Engineering, and Thales.

Department for Work and Pensions

Mortgages: Government Assistance

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of  23 February 2018 to Question 128589, if her Department will collect data on the number of recipients of Support for Mortgage Interest at geographies smaller than Government Office Region.

Kit Malthouse: The data needed to make robust estimates of the number of recipients of Support for Mortgage Interest (SMI) at geographies smaller than Government Office Region is not available to Departmental analysts. We have no plans to collect such data.

Families: Disadvantaged

Daniel Zeichner: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether any funding from the Reducing Parental Conflict programme will be made available for relationship support services for in-work low-income families in addition to the support for workless families set out in Improving Lives: Helping Workless Families.

Kit Malthouse: There is clear evidence that frequent, intense and poorly-resolved parental conflict can lead to poorer mental health, wellbeing, educational attainment, and employment outcomes for children. While children in workless families face triple the risk of exposure to parental conflict compared with children in families where at least one of the adults is working, we recognise that children in some other low-income families would also benefit from support to reduce conflict in their parents’ relationships. Local authorities are best placed to decide which families to support in their areas, and we therefore expect a range of disadvantaged families to be supported through the Reducing Parental Conflict programme.

Children: Disadvantaged

Daniel Zeichner: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to Improving Lives: Helping Workless Families, what proportion of the 11 per cent of children in couple-parent families who experience parental conflict are in (a) workless families, (b) families where one parent is in work and (c) families where both parents work.

Kit Malthouse: Of the 11 per cent of children in couple-parent families living with parents who reported experiencing parental conflict in 2015-16:(a) 14 per cent were in workless families(b) 32 per cent were in families where one parent is in work and the other is not in work(c) 54 per cent were in families where both parents workThese figures are now updated with the Parental Conflict Indicator published on the 22nd March 2018.

Social Security Benefits: Apprentices

James Frith: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, which eligible benefits are (a) lost and (b) suspended when a young person aged between 16 and 24 becomes an apprentice.

Alok Sharma: Apprenticeships (which incorporate paid work of at least 30 hours a week) are treated in the same way as other paid work for benefit purposes. When a person is in receipt of a benefit and they start employment as an apprentice, their entitlement to benefit may change in light of their new circumstances. Regardless of their age and circumstances, claimants are not eligible for the main working age benefits, such as Income Support, Jobseeker’s Allowance or Employment and Support Allowance if they work 16 hours a week or more, on average. Additionally, claimants are not eligible for Income Support, income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance and or income-related Employment and Support Allowance if they have a partner who works 24 hours a week or more, on average. Universal Credit is being rolled out across the country and is replacing the main means tested benefits listed above. Earnings from an apprenticeship are treated in the same way as any other form of employed earnings and would be taken into account when calculating entitlement to Universal Credit, which is both an in-work and out-of-work benefit.

Business Premises: Assistance Dogs

Paul Girvan: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if her Department will introduce legislation to ensure that businesses erect signage stating that all service animals are welcome on their premises.

Sarah Newton: There are no plans to introduce legislation to ensure businesses have signage stating that service animals (assistance dogs) have access to premises. Standards for assistance dogs are currently and historically maintained on the basis of a voluntary regulatory framework. There is no specific legislation for the regulation of assistance dogs and no legislation is planned. Assistance dogs must be allowed access to premises and services as a reasonable adjustment under the Equality Act 2010.

Industrial Health and Safety: Drugs

Paul Girvan: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of mandatory drug testing for people who operate heavy plant machinery.

Sarah Newton: No assessment has been made of the potential merits of mandatory drug testing for people who operate heavy plant machinery. Employers have a general duty under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 to, so far as is reasonably practicable, ensure the health, safety and welfare at work of their employees. If they knowingly allow an employee under the influence of drug misuse to continue working and his or her behaviour places the employee or others at risk, they could be prosecuted. The Health and Safety Executive is in the process of updating its guidance on drug misuse at work which provides advice on, and highlights the benefits of, tackling this issue. When finalised, a copy will be placed in the House Library.

Personal Independence Payment

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the levels of satisfaction of claimants at the assessment stage of the personal independence payment claims process in each of the last two years.

Sarah Newton: The Department for Work and Pensions monitors overall levels of satisfaction for most benefits, including Personal Independent Payment (PIP), via the Claimant Service and Experience Survey. The survey includes PIP claimants who have had contact with DWP in the three months prior to interview. The latest overall satisfaction figure for PIP was 87% in 2016/17 (76% in 2015/16). The research is available at:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dwp-claimant-service-and-experience-survey-2016-to-2017 In relation to satisfaction levels of the Assessment Stage of PIP, it is a contractual requirement for PIP Assessment Providers to undertake regular claimant satisfaction reviews. Claimant satisfaction reviews are undertaken by a third party on behalf of Capita and Independent Assessment Services, and only after the case has been returned to the Department. Both Assessment Providers have exceeded the quarterly 90% target for Customer Satisfaction scores since the measure was introduced in autumn 2016. The Department for Work and Pensions has also undertaken an extensive independent three wave evaluation (PIP Claimant Experience Evaluation) examining individuals’ experiences of all stages of the PIP journey. In total over 3,600 individuals have been interviewed. Findings show that individual’s experiences of the Assessment Stage were mainly positive, with 89% of claimants agreeing the assessor treated them with respect and dignity and 81% agreeing they understood what was being asked of them in the assessment. Results from this stage of the evaluation were published on 18th December 2017 and are available at:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/personal-independence-payment-evaluation-wave-2-claimant-research-interim-findings.

Personal Independence Payment: Visual Impairment

Alex Sobel: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many complaints (a) ATOS and (b) Capita received from blind and partially sighted applicants in respect of personal independence payments assessments in 2016-17.

Sarah Newton: This information is not available. Capita and Independent Assessment Services do not categorise complaints by health condition or impairment.

Personal Independence Payment

Alan Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what support is available for people with memory loss to undertake a personal independence payment assessment.

Sarah Newton: Claimants to Personal Independence Payment with memory problems, a severe mental health or behavioural condition, learning difficulty or developmental disorder and with no support network in place, can be provided with additional support during the claiming process if they need it. That support can include help with filling in the claim form or the questionnaire and additional protections for failing to return the questionnaire or for failing to attend a face-to-face assessment. We recognise that attending any face-to-face assessment can be a stressful experience for some people, which is why we do not carry out face-to-face consultations where there is enough existing evidence to determine benefit entitlement. Furthermore, where a face-to-face consultation is required, we and our Assessment Providers encourage claimants to bring another person with them to consultations where they would find this helpful, for example, to reassure them or to help them during the consultation. The person chosen is at the discretion of the claimant and might be, but is not limited to, a parent, family member, friend, carer, or advocate.

Department for Work and Pensions: Cycling

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many civil servants within his Department made use of a Cycle-To-Work Scheme in each of the last five years.

Kit Malthouse: The Department for Work and Pensions does not have a Cycle to Work Scheme currently. We are working with a supplier with the intention of implementing a DWP Cycle to Work scheme in the next financial year.

Personal Independence Payment: Hearing Impairment

Layla Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to reduce waiting times for personal independence payment claims for people with hearing loss.

Sarah Newton: The Department is committed to ensuring that all claimants are taken through the Personal Independence Payment (PIP) claim process as quickly as possible. The Department does not differentiate between conditions with the exception of claimants who are terminally ill. Regardless of the claimant’s condition, the PIP claims process continues to work effectively as the end-to-end customer journey is down by nearly three quarters since July 2014 – from 40 weeks to 11 weeks (January 2018).

Universal Credit: Housing

Wera Hobhouse: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate her Department has made of the savings accrued to the public purse in 2017-18 as a result of the removal of the automatic eligibility of 18 to 21 year-olds to claim universal credit for housing costs.

Kit Malthouse: As a result of the removal of the automatic eligibility of 18 to 21 year olds to claim universal credit for housing costs the Department estimates savings of £5 million in welfare spending in 2017/2018.

Universal Credit: Housing

Wera Hobhouse: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will publish the categories of decisions for turning down applications from 18 to 21 year olds for universal credit claims for housing costs .

Kit Malthouse: The Department holds no record of reasons for claimants being refused housing costs. Eligibility for housing costs is assessed against the exemption criteria for the policy. Claimants which do not meet any of the exemption criteria are not eligible for housing support.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Members: Correspondence

Tommy Sheppard: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 6 March 2018 to Question 130571, when he plans to respond to the letter from the hon. Member for Edinburgh East of 2 February 2018 on the sale of electronic shock collars.

George Eustice: A response was sent on 22 March. Following detailed consideration of the issues around the use of electronic training collars, the Government has launched a full public consultation on the possibility of banning the use of electronic training collars for cats and dogs in England.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs: Buildings

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what proportion of his Department's estate is (a) rented, (b) owned and (c) occupied through any other type of agreement.

George Eustice: The Defra group has been delivering a significant property rationalisation programme since 2010. In that time annual property running costs have reduced from £170m per year to £100m per year. The number of sites will continue to reduce, with a focus on occupying the Government Property Units Hub sites, where it meets operational delivery for the Defra. The Core Department occupies sites on the following basis: Rented – 97 sitesOwned – 26 sitesOccupied through other types of agreement (agreements with other Central Government Departments) - 38

Food: EU Law

John Stevenson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of divergence from EU food and drink regulations on continued frictionless trade with the 27 countries of the EU.

George Eustice: The Government is undertaking a wide range of analysis looking at the implications of the UK’s withdrawal from the EU. Our programme of analysis is constantly developing and evolving, and includes all areas of the UK economy and input from a wide range of sectors.It will always be for the Parliament of the day to decide which rules are adopted in the UK. The Parliament of the day may potentially decide to diverge from EU law. Where this occurs it will be in the knowledge that there may be consequences for market access in both directions.

Environment Agency: Staff

Daniel Zeichner: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many staff were employed by the Environment Agency (a) directly, (b) on a contracted basis and (c) on a subcontracted basis in each of the last eight years.

Dr Thérèse Coffey: The table below shows the number of staff employed by the Environment Agency (a) directly and (b) on a contracted basis at 31 March in each of the last eight years. Numbers of subcontracted staff are not recorded centrally. Year (April – March)(a) Directly(b) Contracted BasisTotalEmployeesEnvironment Agency StaffContractors2010/1111,69021713512,0422011/1211,47155414212,1672012/1312,29554224113,0782013/1410,75822511911,102 12014/1510,24835715810,7632015/1610,24928340610,9382016/1710,70619063911,535 22017/1810,01923133610,586 3 1 Creation of Natural Resources Wales, 1 April 2013. 2 Digital, Data and Technology Services requirement increased resulting in higher use of contractors. Recruitment into Flood and Coastal Risk Management following winter 2015/16 flooding and receipt of additional funding. 3 Transfer of Corporate Services staff (including IT contractors) out of Environment Agency into Defra group.

Water: Testing

Daniel Zeichner: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many water quality tests the Environment Agency carried out in 2017 compared with the previous seven years.

Dr Thérèse Coffey: Water quality in England has been improving significantly over recent decades: we have the cleanest bathing waters since records began, serious pollution incidents are steadily declining and rivers that were biologically dead are reviving. In 2017 the Environment Agency (EA) collected 95,202 water samples and tested them for a total of 1,745,242 individual measures of water quality. The table below shows the numbers of samples and tests for the previous seven years. In this period monitoring activity peaked in 2013 due to extensive water quality investigations required for the first cycle of the Water Framework Directive which informed River Basin Management Plans published in 2015. Since then the EA has refined its monitoring programmes to make them even more targeted, risk based and efficient. For example, the EA has been able to deliver a 20% reduction in monitoring for the bathing water directive as a result of the improvements in water quality secured in recent years and better scientific understanding of quality at each bathing water. Similar approaches are being applied to other monitoring programmes so that the EA can focus its monitoring activity where it is needed to drive improvements and effectively manage pressures on the water environment. YearNumber of water samplesNumber of tests for individual measures of water quality2010131,8382,510,2502011137,3402,579,3232012155,3942,670,0282013159,9642,755,7002014135,3922,262,7882015122,5762,156,1762016112,2242,020,475

Agriculture: Trade Agreements

Dr Dan Poulter: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with his counterparts in the devolved administrations on trade deals for the agriculture sector after the UK leaves the EU.

George Eustice: The Secretary of State is meeting regularly with the Scottish Cabinet Secretary for Rural Economy and Connectivity, the Welsh Cabinet Secretary for Energy, Planning and Rural Affairs, and the Permanent Secretary in the Department for Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs in Northern Ireland, to discuss future agricultural policy and implications for trade. The devolved administrations will have a direct interest in our future trade agreements, and we will continue to work closely with them to deliver an approach that works for the whole of the UK.

Agriculture: Subsidies

Julie Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what information his Department holds on what the maximum amount is that a national government can spend on farming subsidies according to World Trade Organisation rules.

George Eustice: Farming subsidies are covered by the World Trade Organisation (WTO) Agreement on Agriculture which was adopted by WTO members (including the UK) in 1994. This agreement sets out conditions under which domestic support in favour of agricultural producers may be made. More information can be found on the WTO website:https://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/agric_e/ag_intro03_domestic_e.htm.Individual WTO members’ commitments can be found here:https://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/agric_e/supporting_tables_e.htm

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs: Cleaning Services

Catherine West: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what information he holds on the rate of remuneration for cleaners in his Department.

George Eustice: Defra’s office cleaners are provided through a facilities management contract. They are paid the following hourly rates as a minimum, which are in line with those recommended as the real living wage, recommended by the Living Wage foundation: £8.45 outside of the M25£9.75 within the M25 From April 2018, this will rise to: £8.75 outside of the M25£10.20 within the M25

Tortoises: Sales

Sir Mark Hendrick: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, on how many occasions in the last three calendar years the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs was notified of the sale of tortoises without correctly completed Article 10 transaction certificates; and how many of those reports (a) were investigated and (b) resulted in (i) prosecution and (ii) another legal remedy.

George Eustice: The information requested is set out in the table below. YearSale of tortoises without correctly completed Article 10 transaction certificates201513201621201723  The Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) refer all investigations to the National Wildlife Crime Unit or the local Police Force to take forward. APHA are not provided with updates on cases and therefore do not hold records of how many were investigated, prosecuted or had other legal remedies.

Phytophthora Ramorum: Disease Control

Sir Mark Hendrick: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 16 March 2018 to Question 131506 on Phytophthora Ramorum, how many Statutory Plant Health Notices were issued in (a) 2015, (b) 2016 and (c) 2017 to fell infected (i) larch and (ii) rhododendron.

Dr Thérèse Coffey: The Forestry Commission and the Animal and Plant Health Agency been actively managing Phytophthora ramorum and Phytophthora kernovie since 2009 to minimise spread. Phytophthora ramorum is found across the UK. In England most infected sites are in the south west and north west. We continue our risk-based approach to identify infection in the wider environment and when it is found we issue Statutory Plant Health Notices to fell infected larch and rhododendron. We still have specific measures in place that regulate the movement and processing of infected larch to prevent the spread through the trade in timber and related products. We work closely with all stakeholders to help manage the disease, we share good practice, promote and improve biosecurity, and continue to carry out research to better understand this pathogen. The following table shows a breakdown of Statutory Plant Health Notices issued for Phytophthora ramorum sites on larch and rhododendron in England. Year201520162017Larch414831Rhododendron595026

Slug Pellets

Sir Desmond Swayne: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the effect of commercially available slug pellets on garden birds and hedgehogs; and if he will make a statement.

George Eustice: Slug pellets are regulated as pesticides. This means that they may only be sold and used if scientific risk assessments find no harmful effect on people and no unacceptable effects on the environment. Possible effects on birds and mammals are considered as part of the environmental assessment. Regulatory decisions are regularly reviewed so that safety can be reassessed using the latest data and scientific knowledge. Slug pellets containing metaldehyde are currently being reviewed with the scientific assessment being carried out by the Health and Safety Executive and the UK Expert Committee on Pesticides. The issue of impacts on birds and mammals is being carefully considered.

Home Office

Wildlife: Smuggling

Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she will provide additional staff and funding to tackle the illegal wildlife trade prior to the October 2018 Illegal Wildlife Trade conference in London.

Victoria Atkins: Tackling the illegal wildlife trade is a priority for this Government and the Home Office is well resourced to counter this threat. The Government will be hosting the international conference in London this October to drive further progress.

Foreign Companies: Russia

Sir Mike Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has made an assessment of whether Russian companies listed on the London Stock Exchange and supplying raw materials such as aluminium to Russia represent a threat to the UK's national interests and security; and if she will make a statement.

Mr Ben Wallace: The Home Office has conducted no such assessment.

Offenders: Deportation

Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people who had been deported from the UK as a result of (a) a criminal prosecution and (b) committing terrorism-related offences subsequently returned to the UK in each of the last five years.

Caroline Nokes: Providing the information requested would require a manual check of individual records which could only be done at disproportionate cost.Anyone subject to a deportation order is placed on a watchlist and banned from re-entering the UK. Should a foreign national offender wish to return then they will have to apply for their deportation order to be revoked.

Terrorism

Steve McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the Digital Charter, published by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport on 25 January 2018, what her Department's definition of terrorist material is; and whether the Government’s plans to strengthen the offences under section 58 of the Terrorism Act 2000 will include changing that definition.

Mr Ben Wallace: The statutory definition of terrorism is provided at section 1 of the Terrorism Act 2000, and the Government has no plans to amend this. There is no single statutory definition of ‘terrorist material’ however there are a range of applicable offences. It is unlawful under section 1 of the Terrorism Act 2006 to publish a statement directly or indirectly encouraging another person to commit, prepare or instigate an act of terrorism.Section 2 of the Terrorism Act 2006 covers dissemination of publications which are likely to be understood as such an encouragement, or to be useful to a person preparing or committing an act of terrorism. Section 58 of the Terrorism Act 2000 makes it unlawful to collect or possess information likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism. The Government intends to clarify that this applies to the repeated streaming or viewing such material online, and to increase the maximum penalty from 10 to 15 years, but does not plan to change the type of material covered by the offence.

Asylum: Detainees

Mr David Lammy: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 12 March 2018 to Question 131413, what assessment she has made of the legality of threats of expedited deportation and the compatibility of such threats with human rights and immigration law.

Mr David Lammy: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 12 March 2018 to Question 131413, whether her Department requested legal advice on the legality of threatening accelerated deportation to detainees on hunger strike in immigration detention centres.

Caroline Nokes: We do not consider that the letter issued to individuals in immigration detention who have refused foods or fluids contravenes human rights obligations or immigration law. The letter in question is part of guidance which was cleared by Home Office lawyers and published in October 2017.The approach taken in the letter accurately reflects the fact that, in the interests of health and wellbeing, the most appropriate way in which to respond to some cases of refusal to take food or fluids is to prioritise the consideration of the individual’s case including, if appropriate, their removal from detention and the UK, whilst ensuring that the case is processed fairly.

Home Office: Secondment

Mr David Lammy: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many full time equivalent MP account management staff are on secondment to her Department; and what the cost is to the public purse of those secondments.

Caroline Nokes: Since September 2017 the Home Office has seconded 19 full time equivalent staff from HM Revenue and Customs to the MP Account Management Teams. The seconded staff are part of a Cross Government Operational Delivery Profession whose role it is to support peaks in customer demand.

Police: Biometrics

Mr David Lammy: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the potential for bias against people on the basis of (a) gender and (b) ethnicity of the automated facial recognition software used by the (i) Metropolitan Police and (ii) South Wales Police.

Mr Nick Hurd: Facial recognition software for which the Home Office has reviewed Privacy Impact Assessments compares images of members of the public captured by surveillance cameras with images of persons on a watch list.If there is a match this is reported to a police operator who will confirm its accuracy before any action is taken. People are not arrested solely on the basis of matches made by facial recognition software. The Government is exploring the expansion of oversight of facial recognition systems.

Police National Database

Mr David Lammy: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people who have not been convicted of a criminal offence are recorded on the Police National Database.

Mr Nick Hurd: The Police National Database (PND) is an intelligence database which enables the sharing of intelligence on people, organisations, organised crime groups, objects, locations and events that have come to the attention of police. PND does not automatically record the conviction status of individuals.

Immigrants: Detainees

Mr David Lammy: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what information her Department holds on the number of people who have been unlawfully detained in immigration centres for (a) 1 week, (b) 1 month, (c) 3 months, (d) 6 months and (e) 1 year or more.

Caroline Nokes: Information on the number of people who have been unlawfully detained in immigration centres for the periods requested is not held centrally and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost through the examination of individual case records.

Home Office: Cleaning Services

Catherine West: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what information she holds on the rate of remuneration for cleaners in her Department.

Victoria Atkins: Cleaning services across the department are outsourced. Suppliers are responsible for setting rates of pay for their staff and rates for cleaners vary dependent on their age, location and market rates. They have informed the department that they currently pay, as a minimum, either the National Minimum Wage or the National Living Wage for cleaning the department’s buildings. The rates set by government for the National Minimum Wage and the National Living Wage are to rise in April 2018.

Refugees: Children

Kate Green: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will ensure that rights for child refugees under the Dublin III regulations are maintained after the UK leaves the EU; and if she will make a statement.

Caroline Nokes: The Dublin Regulation is a mechanism for participating states to determine responsibility for asylum seekers, not children with refugee status. We fully intend that the Dublin III arrangements, like the rest of the asylum acquis, will continue to apply during the transition period. The Dublin III Regulation is an EU reciprocal agreement which requires agreement by both sides, and cannot be replicated unilaterally. We expect co-operation on asylum and migration to continue with our European allies after the UK leaves the EU, the exact nature and scope of this cooperation will be a matter for the negotiations.Whilst we remain bound by it, we remain committed to the efficient and effective operation of the Dublin Regulation for all asylum seekers, including children. Our efforts are clear, for example the Sandhurst Treaty, signed between the UK and France on 18 January 2018, announced a number of further measures to support unaccompanied asylum seeking and refugee children.

Police: Disciplinary Proceedings

Paul Girvan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many police officers have been (a) suspended and (b) had their employment terminated in each of the last five years.

Mr Nick Hurd: The Home Office collects and publishes statistics on the number of police officers who are suspended (as at 31st March each year) on an annual basis. The Home Office also collects and publishes statistics on the number of officers who are dismissed from each police force in England and Wales on an annual basis. These data are published in the ‘Police workforce, England and Wales’ statistical bulletins, which can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/police-workforce-england-and-walesThe latest data available on the number of police officers who are suspended, as at 31 March 2017, can be found in Table W2 of the accompanying Data Tables:https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/629865/police-workforce-tabs-jul17.odsData for previous years, as at 31 March each year, can be found in the accompanying Open Data Table:https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/629366/open-data-table-police-workforce-absence.odsDismissal is defined as “individuals who have been required to resign, made compulsorily redundant, or have had their contract terminated”. The latest data available on the number of police officers who have been dismissed in the financial year 2016/17, can be found in Table JL4 of the accompanying Data Tables:https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/629865/police-workforce-tabs-jul17.odsData for previous years can be found in the accompanying Open Data Table:https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/629370/open-data-table-police-workforce-leavers.ods

Human Trafficking: Children

Paul Girvan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that minors trafficked to the UK are able to receive (a) welfare and (b) protection for as long as they require.

Victoria Atkins: The Government views the slavery, including trafficking, of children as a very serious offence. Where children are found to be victims of modern slavery their safety and welfare needs must be addressed as the priority.Local authorities have a duty to safeguard all children in their care, regardless of their backgrounds or experiences including children within the National Referral Mechanism. It is the responsibility of the local authorities to make decisions about the placement and welfare of children in their care, this includes assessing the risks to that child, such as trafficking, and how best to safeguard them.In addition to the care and support local authorities provide children in their with, the Government announced in October 2017 that it would commence section 48 of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 and committed to the full national roll out of Independent Child Trafficking Advocates (ICTAs) across England and Wales. Acting in the child’s best interests, ICTAs will provide independent advice and guidance to the child and will be independent of those authorities responsible for making decisions about the child. We introduced ICTAs in three early-adopter sites (Greater Manchester, Hampshire and nationally in Wales) on the 30th January 2017.

Prostitution: Prosecutions

Paul Girvan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what research her Department has undertaken on the potential merits of adopting the Swedish model of prosecuting people who pay for sex.

Victoria Atkins: The Home Office has examined different legislative approaches to prostitution around the world, including the ‘Nordic Model’ adopted by Sweden. However, we have not yet seen unequivocal evidence that any alternative approach is better at tackling harm and exploitation – and that remains our priority.As set out in our response to the Home Affairs Select Committee report into prostitution, the Government recognises the strong arguments for commissioning a research project into the prevalence and nature of prostitution in England and Wales and believes that such an evidence base is vital prior to considering any further changes to policy and legislation.We have provided £150,000 to the Police and Crime Commissioner for South Wales to commission this research and we intend to announce the successful applicant soon.

Terrorism

Paul Girvan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to ensure that the sale of pro-terrorist merchandise cannot take place.

Mr Ben Wallace: There are already a number of offences which may be relevant, including:encouragement of terrorism, contrary to section 1 Terrorism Act 2006;disseminating terrorist publications, contrary to section 2 Terrorism Act 2006;inviting support for a proscribed group, contrary to section 12 Terrorism Act 2000; anddisplaying an item in circumstances arousing a reasonable suspicion that a person belongs to or supports a proscribed group, contrary to section 13 Terrorism Act 2000.It would be for the police and CPS to investigate and charge any offences, as appropriate.

Fascism

Alex Sobel: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the findings of the recent report by Hope Not Hate, The state of hate 2018, what steps her Department plans to take to tackle neo-Nazism in the UK.

Victoria Atkins: The Government is committed to tackling all forms of extremism and terrorism, whether Islamist or far and extreme right-wing.In December 2016, the neo-Nazi group National Action became the first extreme right-wing group to be proscribed. Additionally, our latest published statistics showed that around a quarter of all those who received support through Channel were referred because of far right concerns. Channel is a voluntary and confidential programme which supports individuals who are vulnerable to being drawn into terrorism.Through the 2016 Hate Crime Action Plan the Government has funded additional security measures in 129 places of worship, including places targeted by far and extreme right-wing extremists. The Action Plan will be refreshed later in 2018. The Government has also created a network of 160 civil society partners that are confronting extremism in their communities and is supporting Local Authorities to tackle far and extreme right-wing extremism.The Government’s new Commission for Countering Extremism has been given a clear remit to identify and challenge extremism in all its forms.

Psychiatry: Migrant Workers

Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make it her policy to include child and adolescent psychiatrists to the Shortage Occupation List.

Caroline Nokes: I refer the Rt Hon Gentleman to the answer that was given to a question from the Hon Member for Canterbury on 15 March, UIN 131857.

Home Office: Buildings

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to Answer of 16 March 2018 to Question 132219 on Home Office: Buildings, if she will publish the (a) area  and (b) expenditure on property represented by the information provided in the table.

Victoria Atkins: The information on what proportion of the Home Office estate is (a) rented, (b) owned and (c) occupied through any other type of agreement by area is provided in the table below.Table: floor space in m2 Leasehold%Freehold%PFI%Other%MOTO%262,18751.9102,73620.453,45010.631,8566.354,47810.8 Note: The holding floor space given is the space held by the Home Office as the major occupier. It includes space where the Home Office acts as landlord to other Government Departments, private companies and individuals.Information on what proportion of the Home Office estate is (a) rented, (b) owned and (c) occupied through any other type of agreement by expenditure cannot be provided without incurring a disproportionate cost.

Migrant Workers

Layla Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make it her policy to provide Tier 2 visa cap exemptions for foreign nationals on (a) Government Shortage Occupation Lists and (b) working at PhD level roles in the event that the UK leaves the EU.

Caroline Nokes: In July 2017, the Government commissioned the independent Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) to advise on the economic and social impacts of the UK’s exit from the European Union and also on how the UK’s immigration system should be aligned with a modern industrial strategy. The MAC’s call for evidence sought information on EU migrants’ skills, amongst other things, and this will be considered in their final report due in September 2018. Details can be found on the gov.uk website at: www.gov.uk/government/consultations/call-for-evidence-and-briefing-note-eea-workers-in-the-uk-labour-market.The Government will take account of the MAC’s advice when making any final decisions about our future immigration system for EU nationals.

British Nationality

Dr Rosena Allin-Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if the Government will introduce retrospective changes to the law, to allow people who were born outside the UK  before 1 January 1983 to a British parent, to inherit their parent's UK citizenship.

Caroline Nokes: A person who is of the first generation born outside the United Kingdom to a British citizen would usually be a British citizen by descent, including where they were born before 1 January 1983, with a few exceptions.The 1981 Act also contains provision for children born outside the UK to British citizens by descent, who have retained a close connection to the UK to register as British citizens.Since the British Nationality Act 1981 was introduced amendments have been made to allow children of unmarried British fathers and children of British mothers, who would have become British citizens had women been able to pass on their citizenship in the same way as men, to register as British citizens.

Shops: Crimes of Violence

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to help protect shop workers from (a) physical abuse, (b) threats and (c) intimidation.

Victoria Atkins: All acts of violence and abuse against retail staff are serious matters whenever and wherever they occur. All such incidents should be reported to the police and taken seriously, investigated and, where appropriate, the perpetrators taken through the courts and met with tough sentences.We are working with the police and the retail sector to identify what more can be done to prevent and respond to violence and abuse against retail staff, as part of the work of the National Retail Crime Steering Group. The Steering Group is jointly chaired by the Home Office and the British Retail Consortium.

Attorney General

Hate Crime: Prosecutions

Rehman Chishti: To ask the Attorney General, what steps the CPS is taking to increase the effectiveness of prosecutions for hate crimes.

Robert Buckland: Tackling hate crime is a priority for the CPS and it has taken a number of steps to improve the effectiveness of prosecutions. The CPS Hate Crime Annual Report shows that the proportion of cases where the CPS was successful in achieving uplifted sentences for hate crime perpetrators increased dramatically last year. The proportion rose from 33.8% in 2015/16, to 52.2% in 2016/17 – reaching 58.2% in the final quarter. The CPS has delivered mandatory face to face disability hate crime training and racially and religiously aggravated hate crime training, and is in the process of delivering homophobic, biphobic and transphobic hate crime training. In August 2017, the CPS published revised legal guidance for prosecutors on all strands of hate crime. The revised legal guidance and training support prosecutors to more effectively deal with hate crime cases.

Cabinet Office

Fraud

Deidre Brock: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office,  what estimate his Department has made of the cost to the public purse of theft and fraud to (a) his Department, (b) its agencies and (c) its non-departmental public bodies in each of the last ten years.

Chloe Smith: Information regarding the cost of detected fraud in the Cabinet Office can be found in the Cabinet Office Annual Report and Accounts and the NAO’s Fraud Landscape Review (2016). The Cabinet Office undertakes sampling exercises to identify anomalies in areas such as travel, subsistence and grants.

Electronic Government: Hacking

Jon Trickett: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, which Government websites were affected by the recent hack which used websites to mine cryptocurrency.

Mr David Lidington: The NCSC continues to investigate all ongoing incidents providing tailored advice where required. This will be reported in the Annual review, expected in October 2018.

Regulatory Futures Review

Jon Trickett: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to Pages 7 and 8 of his Department's document, entitled Regulatory Futures Review, published in January 2017, whether his Department received such a report from a working group regulators.

Chloe Smith: The Regulatory Futures Review recommended that a Working Group should be formed and should report to regulators. This has happened.

Regulatory Futures Review

Jon Trickett: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to paragraph 7.4 of his Department's report, Regulatory Futures Review, published in January 2017, what proportion of arms-length bodies with regulatory functions operate under a full cost-recovery model.

Chloe Smith: Approximately half of the regulators covered by the Regulatory Futures report operate a full cost recovery model.

Regulation

Jon Trickett: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what guidance he has provided to arms-length bodies with regulatory functions on data sharing with each other.

Chloe Smith: New ALB Guidance was published by the Cabinet Office on 14 March 2018, which complements The Re-use of Public Sector Information Regulations 2015 and the Government’s Response to Data Sharing for Non-Economic Regulators published on March 2015.

Government Departments: Disclosure of Information

Adam Afriyie: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what recent steps his Department has taken to improve transparency in government.

Chloe Smith: Since 2010 the Government has been at the forefront of opening up data to allow the public and Parliament to hold public bodies to account. The Government remains committed to continuing to look at how the range of information it publishes can be expanded and made as useful as possible to the public, business, the voluntary sector and government itself.We recently launched a new webpage that clarifies the core transparency data published by Government and provides guidance on ensuring this data is accessible, timely and easy to find: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/how-to-publish-central-government-transparency-data

Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman

Rosie Cooper: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of the response times of the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman to complaints referred by Members of Parliament.

Rosie Cooper: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether his Department issues guidance to the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman on timescales for responding to complaints that have been referred by Members of Parliament.

Rosie Cooper: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will publish the number of Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman cases that have been awaiting allocation to an investigator for (a) one month, (b) two months, (c) three months, (d) four months, (e) five months, (f) six months, (g) seven months, (h) eight months and (i) nine months.

Chloe Smith: The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) is independent of Government and is accountable to Parliament through the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee for its performance.The Ombudsman publishes quarterly reports online about performance against their service charter and their Annual Report and Resource Accounts are laid before Parliament and includes information on timeliness of replies.The Ombudsman has agreed to write to the Hon. Member on these issues and copies will be placed in the Library of the House.

National Security Capability Review: Risk Assessment

Nia Griffith: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 13 March 2018 to Question 131358, on Defence: Modernisation, whether the National Security Capability Review will include new risk assessments separate to the National Security Risk Assessment.

Mr David Lidington: The National Security Capability Review was conducted in support of the implementation of the National Security Strategy and Strategic Security and Defence Review, to help ensure that the underlying policies and plans were as joined-up, efficient, and effective as possible. The review drew upon the existing National Security Risk Assessment and refreshed our understanding of the challenges based upon the current national security context.The National Security Council has agreed the high-level findings of the National Security Capability Review. Ministers have agreed that we should finalise the National Security Capability Review with a view to publishing the conclusions in late spring.

Civil Servants: Recruitment

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what proportion of Civil Service Fast Stream applicants were from (a) each of the nine English regions, (b) Northern Ireland, (c) Scotland and (d) Wales in each financial year since 2013..

Oliver Dowden: Fast Stream data relating to the 2017 and 2018 intake is currently being processed. The Fast Stream and Early Talent Annual report 2017 will be published later this year.

Department for International Trade

Trade Remedies

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, pursuant to the Answer of 27 February 2018 to Question 127970, what meetings he, or Ministers in his Department, have had with representatives from (a) Australia, (b) EU, (c) Canada and (d) the US on their trade remedies system.

Greg Hands: The Government is a supporter of free trade. However, free trade does not mean trade without rules. An important part of our rounded trade policy is that we put in place a trade remedies framework to protect domestic industry from injury as a result of dumping or subsidy, or unforeseen surges in imports.DIT Ministers have made a combined number of 60 visits to Australia, USA, Canada and EU countries and have had wide ranging discussions on a range of topics including future trade policy options.

Agriculture: Trade Agreements

Dr Dan Poulter: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what steps he is taking to work with the devolved administrations on future trade deals for UK agriculture.

Greg Hands: The devolved administrations will have a direct interest in our future trade policy and we will continue to work closely with them to deliver an approach that works for the whole of the UK.Working in close collaboration with Defra, DIT engages the devolved administrations regularly to discuss trade and agriculture.Through the White Paper - 'Preparing for our future UK trade policy' - DIT committed to a transparent and inclusive approach, whereby Parliament, the devolved administrations, the devolved legislatures, local government, business, trade unions, civil society, and the public from every part of the UK has the opportunity to engage with and contribute to future trade policy.

Wind Power: Seas and Oceans

Jamie Stone: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what assessment he has made of the export potential for floating offshore wind technology to the UK economy.

Greg Hands: No specific assessment has been made of the export potential for floating offshore wind technology to the UK economy. The global offshore market is a significant opportunity for UK companies.The Department for International Trade works with key UK suppliers, foreign Governments, sector focussed trade associations and procuring authorities to increase exports in the offshore wind sector.

Import Duties: USA

Barry Gardiner: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what discussions he has had with his European Union counterparts on the potential merits of bringing a case to the World Trade Organisation on the US Administration's proposed steel and aluminium tariffs.

Greg Hands: I refer the hon. Member for Brent North to the answer I gave him on 21 March, UIN: 133081 & 133082.

Import Duties: USA

Barry Gardiner: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, whether he has received legal advice on effectiveness of bringing a case to the World Trade Organisation on the introduction of steel and aluminium tariffs by the US administration.

Greg Hands: Whilst we remain a Member State the EU is responsible for initiating and defending trade disputes on the UK’s behalf.

Trade Barriers

Barry Gardiner: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what assessment he has made of the effect on World Trade Organisation rules of using national security as a reason to impose trade barriers.

Greg Hands: The Government believes it is right that WTO members can, via application of the Article XXI exemption, apply certain protections for the protection of security interests. Moreover, it is right that channels exist under WTO rules to challenge the application of Article XXI exemptions. The Government assesses each case on its merits.

Iron and Steel: USA

Barry Gardiner: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what steps he is taking to increase market access for UK steel to (a) existing and (b) new markets as a result of the tariffs on steel proposed by the US administration.

Graham Stuart: I refer the Hon. Member for Brent North to the answer I gave him on 21 March, UIN: 133084.

Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport

Sports: Children

David Evennett: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps his Department is taking to tackle physical inactivity among children through sport.

Tracey Crouch: Government’s Sporting Future strategy, published in December 2015, set out out how important it is for all children to have a good experience of sport and physical activity while they are young. Sport England supports children and young people in England by ensuring there is a good sports and activity offer before and after the school day. Sport England has committed up to £194 million of investment into children and young people over the next four years, which includes the Families Fund: up to £40 million invested in projects that offer new opportunities for families with children to be active together. Sport England will also provide specialist training to at least two teachers in every secondary school in England by 2020, and will invest £28m into Satellite Clubs between 2017-2021. Sport England is also investing £3m through the Potentials Fund, which will look at ways to get young people involved in social action and volunteering using sport and physical activity. Government continues to invest in the School Games (around £17.5m per year) so that all children and young people have the best opportunities to engage in competitive sport. DCMS also works closely with the Department for Education and the Department of Health and Social Care on cross-government issues such as school sport and the Childhood Obesity Plan.

Youth Social Action Review

Mrs Emma Lewell-Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what plans the Minister of Sport and Civil Society has to meet with the Chair of the Independent review of full-time social action following that report's publication.

Tracey Crouch: Government is carefully considering the recommendations made by the Review of Full Time Social Action. I will be meeting with the Chair of the Review to discuss the report as part of this process. The Government response to the review’s report will be published in due course.

Arts: Finance

Chris Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what plans his Department has to increase funding from the public purse to the creative industries.

Margot James: Government recognises the importance of the creative industries and directly supports them in a number of ways, including tax credits, regional development programmes and other funding programmes. Future spending will be determined through normal budgetary processes.

European Convention On Cinematographic Co-production

Chris Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether his Department is taking steps to ensure that the European Convention on Cinematographic Co-Production applies to the UK after it leaves the EU; and if he will make a statement.

Margot James: The UK is a Party to the 1992 European Convention on Cinematographic Co-production. This is not affected by the UK’s departure from the European Union.

Entertainers: Free Movement of People

Chris Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of the loss of freedom of movement on the UK entertainment sector.

Margot James: Government is continuing to work closely with stakeholders from across the creative industries to fully understand the potential impacts and opportunities of the UK’s exit from the European Union, which includes the ability of the UK entertainment sector to work and tour across Europe. We are working closely with the Home Office, HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) and the Department for Exiting the European Union (DExEU) to ensure that they are well informed of the issues for the creative industries. We want to continue to build on the success of the UK entertainment industry and are committed to supporting industry performance across the world.

Arts: EU Grants and Loans

Chris Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether his Department has plans to replicate Creative Europe funding for UK creative industries after the UK leaves the EU.

Margot James: In her Mansion House speech the Prime Minister made clear that the UK is committed to continuing cultural and educational participation with the EU. This would enable the UK to participate in key programmes alongside our EU partners to promote our shared values and enhance our intellectual strength in the world. We have agreed a fair financial settlement with the EU enabling us to move to the next stage of negotiations, and will continue to benefit from EU programmes under this budget plan. Organisations that receive European funding can continue to bid for and receive funding until the end of their projects.

Young People: Voluntary Work

Mrs Emma Lewell-Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to the independent review of full-time social action, published in January 2018, what assessment he has made of the effect of extending the youth full-time social action programme to disadvantaged pupils on their attainment levels in (a) primary and (b) secondary schools.

Tracey Crouch: Government recognises the benefits that young people derive from participation in social action. The 2016 National Youth Social Action Survey showed that young people who had participated in social action in the past 12 months had stronger personal networks and higher life satisfaction than those who have never done any social action. Independent evaluations of the National Citizen Service also show that the programme prepares participants for life and work by furnishing them with softer skills such as leadership, teamwork and increased resilience. The Government response to the Full Time Social Action Review’s report will be published in due course.

Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport: Cleaning Services

Catherine West: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what information he holds on the rate of remuneration for cleaners in his Department.

Margot James: We do not hold any information on the remuneration of cleaners. The Department does not directly employ cleaners. All our properties have facilities management provided by other Government departments.

Broadband: Scotland

Ronnie Cowan: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if he will list the suppliers who are registered with the gigabit broadband voucher scheme in the west of Scotland.

Margot James: The £2m market trial of the Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme is currently operating in four areas across the country: Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire, Bristol, with Bath and North East Somerset, Coventry and Warwickshire, and West Yorkshire and York. On 15th March 2018 the Chancellor announced our intention to extend this market trial into a national scheme. The £67m national scheme will operate across all areas of the UK, including the west of Scotland, and will be launched by the end of March 2018. The scheme is supplier-led, so all suppliers with qualifying products are invited to register as soon as the national scheme is launched.

Artificial Intelligence

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what role staff in his Department have in the assessment of the level of threat involving artificial intelligence.

Margot James: We are committed to ensuring that the public continues to be protected as more Artificial Intelligence applications come into use across different sectors. The Office for AI, a joint BEIS-DCMS policy team, has a role there, as do Departments and regulators responsible for those sectors. The Government is also establishing a Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation to help organisations to use digital innovation responsibly. Artificial Intelligence is expected to have a significant effect on cyber security and it is DCMS's role to understand the policy implications of this, backed up expert technical guidance provided by the National Cyber Security Centre. Using AI applications could also greatly improve threat detection and protections. The UK has already set out robust cyber security measures to help ensure the UK is the safest place in the world to live and be online. We will continue to support defences to prepare against all cyber threats.

Tourism: West Midlands

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment he has made of trends in the level of public funding for tourism in (a) the West Midlands and (b) Coventry in the last five years.

Michael Ellis: VisitBritain and VisitEngland are responsible for promoting the UK as a tourist destination, through a range of different initiatives and campaigns. VisitBritain receive grant-in-aid totalling £19.4m from DCMS and VisitEngland receive £7m. Both organisations together receive £22.8m of GREAT funding to support promotion activities. Tourism expenditure for all West Midlands local authorities is shown in the following table. We do not hold information on individual local authorities. This information is primarily from the Ministry for Housing, Central and Local Government. YearNet Current Expenditure (£000’s)2011/1212,3762012/137,1962013/146,4602014/157,0342015/168,028

Cybercrime: Small Businesses

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps his Department is taking to help protect SMEs from cyber threats.

Margot James: We are committed to making the UK the safest place in the world to live and do business online. This includes ensuring all UK organisations - including small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) - are secure online and resilient to cyber threats. The National Cyber Security Centre offers a range of guidance and support for SMEs. This includes the Cyber Security Small Business Guide launched in October 2017, which provides quick, easy and low-cost cyber security advice to small businesses; and Cyber Essentials, a certification scheme setting out the technical measures to protect against common cyber attacks. In addition, the Cyber Aware campaign offers practical advice to micro-businesses, encouraging employees and customers to adopt simple, protective cyber security measures. Further detail is set out in the National Cyber Security Strategy, which is backed with £1.9 billion of investment to keep the UK safe online.

Channel Four Television: Location

Mrs Louise Ellman: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what procedures his Department plans to use to assess where the proposed Channel 4 hubs will be located; and if she will make a statement.

Margot James: We have long been committed to Channel 4 moving their national headquarters out of London, and welcome Channel 4's agreement to move 300 staff out of London, with this figure rising over time. There are many creative locations across the UK, and Channel 4 will launch a process in April in which cities and regions across the UK can pitch to become the home of Channel 4's new National HQ and creative hubs, with the aim that a decision on these locations will be taken by Channel 4 in Q3 2018.

Social Media: Bullying

Sandy Martin: What steps he plans to take to ensure that social media companies tackle online bullying on their platforms.

Margot James: We are committed to making the UK the safest place in the world for users to be online. In October last year we published the Internet Safety Strategy green paper. This sets out a range of measures which will ensure social media companies tackle online bullying. We will also be introducing a social media code of practice, which will address conduct that involves bullying or insulting an individual online, or other behaviour likely to intimidate or humiliate.

Data Protection

Chi Onwurah: What assessment he has made of the adequacy of protection afforded to citizens' data rights in the UK.

Margot James: This government's manifesto made a commitment that people should be given new rights to ensure they are in control of their own data. The new data protection regime will enhance UK citizens’ data rights. In an age where an ever increasing amount of data is being processed our Data Protection Bill will empower people to take control of their data.

Artificial Intelligence

Vicky Ford: What steps his Department is taking to support the development of artificial intelligence.

Margot James: Artificial Intelligence is already starting to transform the way we live and work. We are ensuring that the UK is an excellent place for AI development, with more PhD places, a Fellowship programme and an Industry Council to provide leadership. Our Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation will ensure we have a governance regime that supports great innovation while at the same time ensuring AI is safe, trusted and works for people.

Gambling

Colin Clark: What steps he is taking to reduce problem gambling.

Tracey Crouch: We take problem gambling very seriously and protecting vulnerable people is a key aim for the Government and the Gambling Commission. The rate of problem gambling among the adult population in Britain has remained relatively stable over many years, and is currently 0.8%. Our consultation on gaming machines and social responsibility closed in January. It made clear we will cut stakes on fixed-odds betting terminals. It also included measures to strengthen protections around other gaming machines, online gambling and gambling advertising.

Women and Equalities

Partnerships: Equal Pay

Ian Murray: To ask the Secretary of State for Women and Equalities, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of including partnership income in the calculation of gender pay gaps; and if she will make a statement.

Ian Murray: To ask the Secretary of State for Women and Equalities, whether her Department has modelled the effect on gender pay gaps of including partnership income in the calculation.

Victoria Atkins: Legal firms with 250 or more employees will be required to publish gender pay gap information by 4th April.Partners and Limited Liability Partnership members are likely to meet the definition of employees but are not counted for the actual gender pay calculations. This is because their pay is based on profit sharing, which cannot be readily compared with regular pay.This is the first year of reporting and we will use the results to target our efforts effectively as we continue work towards eliminating the gender pay gap.